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FROM THE LIBRARY OF 


REV. LOUIS FITZGERALD BENSON, Ὁ. Ὁ. 


BEQUEATHED BY HIM TO 


THE LIBRARY OF 


PRINCETON THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY 


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ἄξω. 29 192 * | 


-HANDBOOK OF 


τῶν ᾧ “ 
τα Ὁ 
; ἘΦ ~ 


GREEK AND LATIN 
PALRHOGRAPHY 


a. 
Gey 
fs, 
(qe 
eB ἢ 
ss 


| BY aes 


a MAUNDE THOMPSON 
ΤΠ ΟἿ LL.D., F.8. A. 


HONORARY FELLOW OF UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, OXFORD 
CORRESPONDENT OF THE INSTITUTE OF FRANCE 
AND PRINCIPAL LIBRARIAN OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM 


NEW YORK 
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY 
1893 


ΣΝ ΤΩ 


ΧΦ. ἐπ Snes 


~~ ‘Sa 
i ’ τ". Ὁ. a 
= rss 4 pat >. 
bal > * 4 a 
Α = eS at 
xz —_- Ἢ 


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πεν 
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ασδαι δαισουδνοσνως 
; 
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: TO MY FRIEND 
LEOPOLD DELISLE 


MEMBER OF THE INSTITUTE 


"AND ADMINISTRATOR-GENERAL OF THE 


NATIONAL LIBRARY OF FRANCE 


PREFACE. 


Tais Hand-book does not pretend to give more than an 
_ outline of the very large subject of Greek and Latin 
Paleography. It must be regarded as an introduction 
to the study of the subject, indicating the different 
branches into which it is divided and suggesting the 
lines to be followed, rather than attempting full in- 
struction. It in no way supersedes the use of such 
works as the collections of facsimiles issued by the 
Paleographical Society and by other societies and 
scholars at home and abroad; but it is hoped that it 
will serve as an aid to the more intelligent and profitable 
study of them. 

Our conclusions as to the course of development of 
the handwritings of former ages are based on our know- 
ledge and experience of the development of modern 
forms of writing. Children at school Jeara to write by 
copying formal text-hands in their copy-books, and the 
handwriting of each child will bear the impress of the 
models. But as he grows up the child developes a 
handwriting of his own, diverging more and more from 
the models, but never altogether divesting itself of their 


first influence. Thus, at all times, we have numerous — 


individual handwritings, but each bearing the stamp of 
its school and of its period; and they, in their turn, re- 
act upon and modify the writing of the next generation. 

In this way have arisen the handwritings of nations 


- 


vill Preface. 


and districts, of centuries and periods, all distinguish- 
able from each other by the trained eye. And the 
iaculty of distinction is not entirely, but to a very great 
degree, dependent on familiarity. Anyone will readily 
distinguish the handwritings of individuals of his own 
time, and will recognize his friend’s. writing at a glance 
as easily as he recognizes his face; he has more difficulty 
in discriminating between the individual handwritings 
of a foreign country. Set before him specimens of the 
writing of the last century, and he will confuse the hands 
of different persons. Take him still farther back, and 
he will pronounce the writing of a whole school to be 
the writing of one man; and he will see no difference 
between the hands, for example, of an Englishman, a 
Frenchman, and a Fleming. Still farther back, the 
writing of one century is to him the same as the writing 
of another, and he may fail to name the locality where a 
MS. was written by the breadth of a whole continent. 
Palzographical knowledge was formerly confined to a 
few, chiefly to the custodians or owners of collections of 
manuscripts; works of reference on the subject were 
scarce and expensive; and facsimiles, with certain excep- 
tions, were of no critical value. In these days, when 
photography has made accurate reproduction so simple a 
matter, the knowledge is within the reach of all wh» 
care to acquire it. The collections of facsimiles which 
have been issued during the last twenty years have 
brought into the private study materials which the 
student could formerly have gathered only by travel 
and personal research. And more than this: these 
facsimiles enable us to compare, side by side, specimens 
from manuscripts which lie scattered in the different 
libraries of Europe and which could never have been 
brought together. There is no longer any lack of 


Preface. ix 


material for the ready attainment of palsographical 
knowledge. 

Abroad, this attainment is encouraged in various 
countries by endowments and schools. In our own 
country, where the development of such studies is 
usually left to private exertion and enterprise, Palao- 
graphy has received but little notice in the past. In the 
future, however, it will receive better recognition. In the 
Universities its value has at length been acknowledged 
as a factor in education. The mere faculty of reading an 
ancient MS. may not count for much, but it is worth 
something. The faculty of assigning a date and locality 
to an undated codex; of deciding between the true and 
the false ; in a word, of applying accurate knowledge to 
minute points—a faculty which is only to be acquired by 
long and careful trainmg—is worth much, and will give 
a distinct advantage to the scholar who possesses it. 


I have to thank my colleague, Mr. G. F. Warner, the 
Assistant-Keeper of the Department of MSS., for kind 
help in passing this work through the press. 

ἘΣ ΜΟΥ; 


British Museum, 
14th December, 1892. 


CONTENTS. 


Cuaprer I.—History of the Greek and Latin Alphabets. 


Cuarter II.—Materials used to receive writing: [eaves— 
Bark—Linen—Clay and Pottery—Wall-spaces—Metals 
—Lead—Bronze—W ood—Waxen and other Tablets— 
Greek Waxen Tablets—Latin Waxen Tablets . ° 


Carrer III.—Materials used to receive writing (continued): 
Papyrus—Skins—Parchment and Vellum—Paper - 


Cuarter 1V.—Writing implements: Stilus, pen, etc.—Inks 
—Various implements . : ᾿ . . : 


CuaptER V.—Forms of Books: The Roll—The Codex—The 
Text—Punctuation—Accents, etc.—Palimpsests Ὁ Ξ 


CuarteR VI.—Stichometry—Tachygraphy—Cryptography 
Cuapterk VII.—Abbreviations and Contractions—Numerals 


CuarTer VIlI.—Greek Paleography: Papyri—Antiquity 
of Greek writing—Divisions of Greek Paleography . 


Cuaprer [X.—Greek Paleography ee: The pp esi 
or Book-Hand in Papyri . : . : 


Cuarter X.—Greek Palwography (continued): Cursive writ- 
ing in Papyri, etc.—Forms of cursive letters 


Cuartek XI.—Greek Reeeronly en Pesci: Uncial 
writing in vellum MSS. : ° . : 


Cuarter XII.—Greek Paleography (continued) : Minuscule 
writing in the Middle Ages—Greek writing in Western 
Europe . Φ . . . . > . . . 


Cuarter XIII.—Latin Paleography: Majuscule writing— 
Square Capitals—Rustic Capitals—Uncials . = . 


Cuarter XIV.—Latin Palexography (continued): Mixed 
Uncials and Minuscules—Hali-uncials . . “areas 


PAGB 


15 


xil Contents, 


CuartrR XV.—Watin pip ei, (continued): ie 
Cursive writing Ε " ee. 


Cuarter XVI.—Latin Palecgraphy (continued) : Minuscule 
writing — Lombardic writing — Visigothic writing— 
Merovingian writing—The Caroline reform . 9. Ὁ. 


See eee XVIT.—Latin Palxography (continued): Trish — 
writing—English writing before the Norman Conquest — 


Cuarter XVIII.—Latin Paleography (continued): The 
Literary or Book-Hand in the Middle Ages—The English 
Bovk-Hand'in the Middle Ages . , . ν : 


CuarteR XIX.—Latin Paleography (continued): Cursive — 
writing—The Papal Chancery—The Imperial Chancery 
—English Charter-hand — English Caney -- 
English Court-hand 4 % | 


ADDENDA \ ς ᾿ Ἄ : ὃ. ; = 4 
List oF PaLHoGRAPHI AL WORKS. . ‘ Ῥ 


ἘΧΡΕΥ ὦ τ 7 : 3 β ‘ : ξ ὃ 


TABLES OF ALPHABETS. 


= 


Derivation of Greek and Latin Alphabets . To face page 
Greek Cursive Alphabets - . Ἶ : a 
Latin Cursive Alphabets 4 ὲ : : » 


PALAOGRAPHY. 


CHAPTER I. 
THE GREEK AND LATIN ALPHABETS. 


AurnoucH the task which lies before us of investigating 
the growth and changes of Greek and Latin palzeography 
does not require us to deal with any form of writing till 
long after the alphabets of Greece and Rome had as- 
sumed their final shapes, yet a brief sketch of the origin 
and formation of those alphabets is the natural introduc- 
tion to such a work as this. 

The alphabet which we use at the present day has 
been traced back, in all its essential forms, to the ancient 
hieratic writing of Keypt of about the twenty-fifth century 
before Christ. It is directly derived from the Roman 
alphabet; the Roman, from a Jocal form of the Greek ; 
the Greek, from the Phoenician; the Phcenician, from 
the Egyptian hieratic. 

The hieroglyphic records of Egypt extend through a 
period of from four to five thousand years, from the age 
of the second dynasty to the period of the Roman 
Empire. Knowing the course through which other 
primitive forms of writing have passed, we must allow 
a considerable period of time to have elapsed before the 
hieroglyphs had assumed the phonetic values which they 
already possess in the earliest existing monuments, 
Originally these signs were ideograms or pictures, either | 
actual or symbolical, of tangible objects or abstract 

2 


2 Paleography. 


ideas which they expressed, From the ideograms in 
course of time developed the phonograms, or written 
symbols of sounds, first as verbal signs representing 
entire words, then as syllabic signs of the articulations 
of which words are composed. The last stage of 


development, whereby the syllabic signs are at length 


taken as the alphabetical signs representing the ele- 
mentary sounds into which a syllable can be resolved, 
has always proved the most difficult. Some forms of 
writing, such as the ancient cuneiform and the modern 
Chinese, have scarcely passed beyond the syllabic stage. 
The Egyptians curiously went more than half-way in the 
last perfecting stage; they developed alphabeticai signs, 
but failed to make independent use of them. A phono- 
gram was added to explain the alphabetically-written 
word, and an ideogram was added to explain the phono- 
gram. It has been truly said that this cumbrous system 
seems almost inconceivable to us, who can express our 
thoughts so easily and so surely by six-and-twenty 
simple signs. The fact, however, remains that the 
Egyptians had unconsciously invented an alphabet; and 
they had been in possession of these letters for more than 
four thousand years before the Christian era. ‘The 
oldest extant hieroglyphic inscription is engraved on a 
tablet, now in the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford, which 
was erected to the memory of a priest who lived in the 
reign of Sent, a monarch of the second dynasty, whose 
period has been variously given as 4000 or 4700 B.c. 
In the cartouche of the king’s name three of the alpha- 
betical signs are found, one of which, n, has descended 
and finds a place in our own alphabet. The age of our 
first letters may thus be said to number some six thousand 
years. In addition, it is a moderate computation to 
allow a thousand years to have elapsed between the first 
origin of the primeval picture-writing of Egypt and the 
matured form of development seen in the hieroglyphic 
characters of the earliest monuments. We may withont 
exaggeration allow a still longer period and be within 
bouuds, if we carry back the invention of Hgyptian 
Wiiting to six or seven thousand years before Christ, 


Bee 
᾿ 
᾿ 


“Ὡ- Δ χα, 


—— ἀνὰ ὧὖὖῦῪ 


ῳΨΨουνν eS γα 


a sata till Riles 


Lhe Greek and Latin Alphabets. 3 


. To trace the connection of the Greek alphabet with 
the Semitic is not difficult. A comparison of the early 
forms of the letters sufficiently demonstrates their com- 
mon origin; and, still further, the names of the letters 
and their order in the two alphabets are the same. But 
to prove the descent of the Semitic alphabet from the 
Egyptian has been a long and difficult task. Firstly, in 
outward shape the Egyptian hieroglyphs of the monu- 
ments appear to be totally different from the Semitic 
letters and to have nothing in common with them. 
Next, their names are different. ‘The names of the 
Semitic letters are Semitic words, each describing the 
letter from its resemblance to some particular object, as 
aleph an ox, beth a house, and so on. When the Greeks 
took over the Semitic letters, they also took over their 
Semitic names; by analogy, therefore, is might be 
assumed that in adopting the Egyptian letters the 
Semites would also have adopted the Egyptian names. 
Thirdly, the order of the letters is different. All these 
difficulties combined to induce scholars to reject the 
ancient, though vague, tradition handed down by Greek 
and Roman writers, that the Phcenicians had originally 
obtained their letters from Egypt. By recent investiga- 
tion, however, the riddle has been solved, and the chain 
of connection between our alphabet and the ancient 
Egyptian hieroglyphic writing bas, beyond reasonable 
doubt, been completed. 

The number of alphabetical signs found among the 
inscriptions on Egyptian monuments has been reckoned 
at forty-five. Some of these, however, are used only 
in special cases; others are only alternative forms for 
signs more commonly employed. ‘The total number 
of signs ordinarily in use may thus be reduced to 
twenty-five—a number which agrees with the tradition 
handed down by Plutarch, that the Egyptians possessed 
an alphabet of five-and-twenty letters. Until late'y, 
however, these hieroglyphs had been known only in the 
set and rigid forms as sculptured on the monuments. 
In 1859 the French Egyptologist de Rougé made known 
the results of his study of an ancient cursive form of 


4 Paleography. 


bieratic writing in which he had discovered the link 
ecnnecting the Semitic with the Egyptian alphabet. 
The document which yielded the most important results 
was the Papyrus Prisse, which was obtained at Thebes 
by Mons. Prisse d’Avennes, and was given by him to the 
Bibhothéque Nationale. The greater part of this papyrus 
is occupied by a moral treatise composed by Ptah-Hotep, 
a prince who lived in the reign of a king of the fifth 
dynasty—not, however, the original, but a copy, which, 
having been found in a tomb of the eleventh dynasty, is 
anterior to the period of the Hyksos invasion, and may 
be assigned to the period about 2500 zc. The old 
hieratic cursive character which is employed in this most 
ancient document is the style of writing which was no 
doubt made use of in Egypt for ordinary purposes at the 
time of the Semitic conquest, and, as de Rougé has 
shown, was taken by the new lords of the country as 
material wherewith to form an alphabet of their own. 
But, as has already been remarked, while adopting the 
Keyptian forms of letters, the Semites did not also adopt 
their Egyptian names, nor did they keep to their order. 
This latter divergence may be due to the fact that it was 
a selection that was made from a large number of ideo- 
grams and phonograms, and nota complete and established 
alphabet that was taken over. In the table which accom- 
panies this chapter the ancient hieratic character of the 
Prisse papyrus may be compared with the early Semitic 
alphabet of some sixteen hundred years later, and, in 
spite of the interval of time, their resemblance in very 
many instances is still wonderfully close. 

‘This Semitic alphabet appears to have been employed 
in the cities and colonies of the P’ cenicians and among 
the Jews and Moabites and other neighbouring tribes at 
a period not far removed from the time when the children 
of Israel sojourned in the land of Egypt. Bible history 
proves that in patriarchal times the art of writing was 
unknown to the Jews, but that, when they entered the 
promised land, they were in possession of it. All evidence 
goes to prove its acquisition during the Semitic oecu- 
pation of the Delta; and the diffusion of the newly- 


“ὠὰ ate 


ἣ 


A 


The Greek and Latin Alphabets. 5 


formed alphabet may have been due to the retreating 


Hyksos when driven out of Egypt, or to Phoenician 
traders, or to both." 

The most ancient form of the Phcenician alphabet 
known to us is preserved in a series of inscriptions 
which date back to the tenth century Bc. ‘'he most 
important of them is that engraved upon the slab known 
as the Moabite stone, which records the wars of Mesha, 
king of Moab, about 890 B.c., against Israel and Edom, 
and which was discovered in 1868 near the site of 
Dibon, the ancient capital of Moab. Of rather earlier 
date are some fragoments of a votive inscription engraved 
on bronze plates found in Cyprus in 1876 and dedi- 
cating a vessel to the god Baal of Lebanon. From these 
and other inscriptions of the oldest type we can con- 
struct the primitive Phcenician alphabet of twenty-two 
letters, as represented in the third column of the table, 
in a form, however, which must have passed through 
many stages of modification since it was evolved from 
the ancient cursive hieratic writing of Egypt. 


The Greek Alphabet. 


The Greeks learned the art of writing from the 
Phoenicians at least as early as the ninth century B.c. ; 
and it is not improbable that they had acquired it even 
one or two centuries earlier, ‘Trading stations and 
colonies of the Phoenicians, pressed at home by the 
advancing conquests of the Hebrews, were established 
in remote times in the islunds and mainlands of Greece 
and Asia Minor; and their alphabet of two-and-twenty 
letters was adopted by the Greeks among whom they 
settled or with whom they had commercial dealings. It 
is not, however, to be supposed that the Greeks received 
the alphabet from the Phoenicians at one single place 
from whence it was passed on throughout Hellas; but 
rather at several points of contact from whence it was 
locally diffused among neighbouring cities and their 
colonies. Hence we are prepared to tind that, while the 


1 See Isaac Taylor, The A/phabet, chap. 11. § 8. 


6 _ Paleography. 


Greek alphabet is essentially one and the same in all 


parts of Hellas, as springing from one stock, it exhibits 
certain local peculiarities, partly no doubt inherent from 
its very first adoption at different centres, partly derived 
from local influences or from linguistic or other causes. 
We cannot, then, accept the idea of a Cadmean alphabet, 
in the sense of an alphabet of one uniform pattern for all 
Greece. 

Among the two-and-twenty signs adopted from the 
Pheenician, four, viz. aleph, he, yod, and ayin, were 
made to represent the vowel-sounds a, e, 2, 0, both long 
and short, the signs for e and o being also enployed for 
the diphthongs ei and ow. ‘The last sound continued to 
be expressed by the omikron alone to a comparatively 
late period in the history of the alphabet. The fifth 
vowel-sound u was provided for by a new letter, the 
upstlon, which may have been either a modification or 
‘‘ differentiation” of the Phoenician waw, or derived from 
a letter of similar form in the Cypriote alphabet. This 


new letter must have been added almost immediately 


after the introduction of the Semitic signs, for there is no 
local Greek alphabet which is without it. Next was felt 
the necessity for distinguishing long and short ὁ, and in 
Tonia, the aspirate gradually falling into disuse, the sign 
H, eta, was adopted to represent long e, probably before 
the end of the seventh century p.c. About the same 
time the long ὁ began to be distinguished by various 
signs, that used by the Ionians, the omega, Q, being 
apparently either a differentiation of the omikron, or, as 
has been suggested, taken from the Cypriote alphabet. 
The age of the double letter @ and of X and ¥, as they 
appear in the Ionian alphabet, must, as is evident from 
their position, be older than or at least coeval with 
omega. 

With regard to the sibilants, their history is involved 
in great obscurity. The original Semitic names appear 
to have become confused in the course of transmission 
to the Greeks and to have been applied by them to 
the wrong signs. The name zeta appears to corre- 
spond to the name ésade, but the letter appears to be 


. 
: 


The Greek and Latin Alphabets. o 


taken from the letter zayn. Xi, which seems to be the 
same word as shin, represents the letter samekh. San, 
which is probably derived from zayn, represents tsade. 
Sigma, which may be identified with samekh, represents 
shin. But all these sibilants were not used simultane- 
ously for any one dialect or locality. In the well-known 


‘passage of Herodotus (i. 189), where he is speaking of 


the terminations of Persian names, we are told that they 
“all end in the same letter, which the Dorians call san 
and the Ionians sigma.” There can be little doubt that 
the Dorian san was originally the M-shaped sibilant 
which is found in the older Dorian inscriptions, as in 
‘Thera, Melos, Crete, Corinth and Argos? This sibilant 
is now known to have been derived trom the Phcenician 
letter tsade. Ina Greek abecedarium scratched upon a 
small vase discovered at Formello, near Veii, this letter 
is seen to occupy the eighteenth place, corresponding 
to the position ot tsadé in the Pheenician alphabet. In 
the damaged Greek alphabet similarly scrawled on the 
Galassi vase, which was found at Cervetri in 1836, it is 
formed more closely on the pattern of the Phcenician letter. 
In the primitive Greek alphabet, therefore, san existed 
(representing tsade) as well as sigma (representing shin), 
but as both appear to have had nearly the same sibilant 
sound, the one or the other became superfluous. In the 
Jonian alphabet sigma was preferred. 

But the disuse of the letter san must date far back, 
tor its loss afiected the numerical value of the Greek 
letters, When this value was being fixed, the exclusion 
ot san was overlooked, and the numbers were calculated 
as though that letter had not existed. The preceding 
letter pi stands for 80; the koppa for 90, the numerical 
value of the Phoenician fsadeand properly also that of san. 
At a later period the obsolete letter was re-adopted as 
the numerical sign for 900, and became the modern 
sampi (1.6. san+ pt), so called from its partial resemblance, 
in its late form, to the letter pi. 

“ It has also been identified with a T-shaped sign which was 


used for a special sound on coins of Mesembria, and at Halicar- 
nassus in the fifth century B.c. 


ὃ Palexography. 


With regard to the local alphabets of Greece, different 
states and different islands either adopted or developed 
distinctive signs. Certain letters underwent gradual 
changes, as eta from closed & to open H, and theta from 
crossed Θ to the dotted circle O, which forms were com- 
nion to all the varieties of the alphabet. The most 
ancient forms of the alphabet are found in Melos, Thera, 
and Crete, which moreover did not admit the double 
letters, While some states retained the digamma or the 
koppa, others lost them; while some developed par- 
ticular differentiations to express certain sounds, others 
were content to express two sounds by one letter. The 
forms Jf for beta and B for epsilon are peculiar to Corinth 
and her colonies; the Argive alphabet is distinguished 
by its rectangular lambda +; and the same letter 
appears in the Boeotian, Chalcidian, and Athenian alpha- 
bets in the inverted form fp. 

But while there are these local differences among the 
various alphabets of ancient Greece, a broad division has 
been laid down by Kirchhoff, who arranges them in two 
groups, the eastern and the western. The eastern 
group embraces the alphabet which has already been 
referred to as the Jonian, common to the cities on the 
western coast of Asia Minor and the neighbouring islands, 
and the alphabets of Megara, Argos, and Corinth and 
her colonies ; and, in a modified degree, those of Attica, 
Naxos, Thasos, and some other islands. The western 
group includes the alphabets of Thessaly, Eubcea, Phocis, 
Locris, and Eceotia, and of all the Peloponnese (except- 
ing the states specified under the other group), and also 
those of the Achzan and Chalcidian colonies of Italy 
and Sicily. 

In the eastern group the letter = has the sound of a; 
and the letters X, ‘Y,the soundsofkh ands. (In Attica, 
Naxos, etc., the letters = and Y were wanting, and the 
sounds ὦ and ps were expressed by XE, ΦΣ). In the 
western group the letter = is wanting, and X, ¥ have 
the values of zand kh; while thesound ps was expressed 
by NZ or 2, or rarely by a special sign >¥. In a word, 
the special test-letters are :— 


Lhe Greek and Latin Alphabets. 9 


Eastern: X=kh. W=ps. 
Western: X=a W=kh. 


How this distinction came about is not known, although 
several explanations have been hazarded. It is unneces- 
sary in this place to do more than state the fact. 

As the Semitic languages were written from right to 
left, so in the earliest Greek inscriptions we find the same 
order followed. Next came the method of writing 
called bowstrophedon, in which the written lines run 
alternately from right to left and from left to right, or 
vice versa, as the plough forms the furrows. Lastly, writ- 
ing from left to right became universal. In the most 
ancient tomb-inscriptions of Melos and Thera we have 
the earliest form of writing. Boustrophedon was com- 
monly used in the sixth century B.c. A notable excep- 
tion, however, is found in the famous Greek inscription 
at Abu Simbel—the earliest to which a date can be 
given, It is cut on one of the legs of the colossal statues 
which guard the entrance of the great temple, and 
records the exploration of the Nile up to the second 
cataract by certain Greek, Ionian, and Carian mercenaries 
in the service of Psammetichus. The king here men- 
tioned may be the first (B.c. 654—617) or the second 
(8.c. 594—589) of the name. The date of the writing 
may therefore be roughly placed about 600 b.c. The 
fact that, besides this inscription, the work of two of 
the soldiers, the names of several of their comrades are 
also cut on the rock, proves how well established was 
the art of writing even at this early period, 


Lhe Latin Alphabet. 


Like the local alpbabets of Greece, the Italic alphabets 
varied from one another by the adoption or rejection of 
different signs, according to the requirements of language. 
Thus the Latin and Faliscan, the Etruscan, the Umbrian, 
and the Oscan alphabets are sufficiently distinguished in 
this way; but at the same time the common origin of all 
can be traced to a primitive or so-called Pelasgian alphabet 
of the Chalcidian type. The period of the introduction of 


10 Paleography. 


writing into Italy from the great trading and colonizing 
city of Chalcis must be carried back to the time when 
the Greeks wrote from right to left. A single Latin 
inscription * has been found which is thus written; and 
in the other Italic scripts this ancient system was 
also followed. We may assume, then, that the Greek 
alphabet was made known to the native tribes of Italy 
as early as the eighth or ninth century B.c., and not 
improbably through the ancient Chalcidian colony of 
Cumee, which tradition named as the earliest Greek 
settlement in the land. The eventual prevalence of the 
Latin alphabet naturally followed the political supremacy 
of Rome. 

The Latin alphabet possesses twenty of the letters of 
the Greek western alphabet, and, in addition, three 
adopted signs. Taking the Formello and Galassi abece- 
daria as representing the primitive alphabet of Italy, 
it will be seen that the Latins rejected the letter san 
aud the double letters theta, phi, and chi (¥), and dis- 
regarded the earlier sign for ai. In Quintilian’s time 
letter X was the “ultima nostrarum” and closed the 
alphabet. ‘The sound z in Latin being coincident with 
the sound s, the letter zeta dropped out. But at a later 
period it was restored to the alphabet, as Z, for the 
purpose of transliteration of Greek words. As, however, 
its original place had been meanwhile filled by the new 
letter G, it was sent down to the end of the alphabet. 
With regard to the creation of G, till the middle of the 
third century B.c. its want was not felt, as C was em- 
ployed to represent both the hard 6 and g sounds,’ a 


$ Ona small vase found in Rome in 1880. See L’ Inscription de 
Duenos in the Mélanges d Archéologie et d’ Histoire of the Ecole 
Frangaise de Rome, 1882, p. 147. 

4 Some of these letters are generally accepted as the origin of 
certain of the symbols used for the Latin numerals. But a dif- 
ferent origin has been lately proposed by Professor Zangemeister : 
Entstehung der rémischen Zahlzeichen (Sitzber. ἃ. k. Preuss. Akad., 
1887). 

δ The sound represented by C in Latin no doubt also gradually, 
but at a very early period, became indistinguishable from that 
represented by K. Hence the letter K fell into general disuse in 


Drie dah ¢ 


EG Y/P°T JA. 'N PH@NICIAN us R Ε ἘΣ κ LATIN 
ΤῈΣ ΓΑΕ τ. ἢ f 
ἐξ ie siete gi gs te 22 3: E 
:ῷ τι ees) τ ko SP ee ΕΣ 
. 
a cagle. dD ΤΩΣ aleph Χ alpha, A\A AA \|AA LAA| a 
Melos, ete. 
b crane. ς. “ beth, Ξ beta 4/8 Coens P B iB B BB b 
Thasos, etc. 
LC i | é 
& bowl. m= [οὶ gimel 1 gamma a KCMogera! rA| ft FSC cas EN IS Cc 
d hand. <> | | daleth Δ] delta | A AD | ADD ΕἸ Deal 
ἦν planofhouse?| ΠῚ | {εἴ | he A epsilon | A) R ᾿ἔσαμα E | RE RIE le 
fu cerastes. χει 7 waw Y digamma, S\ | le [F] RF FIFI LF 
t(thz) duck. RY G zayin = | >} zeta ΞΞ 11: 2 aa ae [οἰῶν 4 
from C.) 
Jilkh) sieve. @ | @ | cheth G | eta BA} 8 H(na)| 8 Hin) 5} ΠΗ 11 10 
th tongs; loop. τεῦ ἐφ ἢ teth @ | theta ®|®@ (OKO) ® 
ὦ leaves. Vy Fy yod Z| iota ‘ 5 ὅ Corints, | | $| | v 
Je athe Cie EG eaten 1) Wagner sh dk k | k Kk keen 
L_ lioness. 2H Ss lamed G lambda |“ | Δ oe SINGIN bchatcis,} V | LL | b 
gos eons; 
m owl. δὰ 2 menu y mw Net We ad MM IMM ww} M Tv 
7’ water. now | emmy | re Ἴ Taw MII MN INN N N τυ 
H eee 
8 door-bolt.| 1 | apy | samekh ΞΕ xi EH) RE ere ἘΠΊ Ε 
ἘΞ 
ἃ weapon. ao | Hy | ayin O |omikron | O | O A Paros fe) O ° ο 2 
Oe Melos. 
Ρ door. =| iu, pe I pu We ro Po tf | rp oe 
t(ts) snake. ὶ ? tsade fr | sar (ss) MIM τος πεν M 
4 knee? A | & qophy Q |keppa | 9 | 9 [9] φ φ Q ᾳ 
Τ᾽ mouth, «-- | SA] resh 4 rho 4 | P PRRIPRR PRIRR Te 
Crete, 
S(sh) field.  |LUT | B | sain Ww |signa 7: mieioa < $ = MPhocis, | £5} 5S | s 
Corinth, aes 
t(ar) armwith |x» | Raby | taw X | tow πο Se er T τ ὦ 
εακεῦδυξασιᾶι ᾿ 
ADDED LETTERS: upsilon WANG Ih WANE ν ν ων 
3: ἢ: π΄: 
phi OP/O0 Φ 
chi X+/VY v 
psu [og Attica, VY reer ral 
Fphnes. 
omega: O Melos, 
Sete ele 
[O used generally Adopted at % af 
for 0, QU, ὦ, ex- a late period 
ceptin Ionia. ] as foreign 
letters. Ζ' Ζ 
To face page 10. FS.Weller 


DERIVATION OF 
THE GREEK AND LATIN ALPHABETS FROM THE EGYPTIAN. 


7° S ΓᾺ ΟΣ , 
“.-- ἐ ἊΝ μ ενῦ-- 


hs 


bed 


a fi 


ola = 


i 


3) fem 


= ῥ nm 
oe Ἂς “= λ t 
φὰς th ᾿ς rts 


a 
4 
4 oe 


7 he Greek and Latin A lphabets. II 


an ae 
ταὶ Recta this use being seen in the abbreviations C. 
nd Cn. for Gaius and Gneus; but gradually the new 
Etter was developed from C and was placed in the 
alphabet in the position vacated by zeta. ‘The digamma 
Es had become the Latin F, and the wpsilon had been 
transliterated as the tate V; but in the time of Cicero 
-upsilon, as a foreign letter, was required for literary 
_ purposes, and thus became again incorporated in the 
ἭΝ Latin alphabet—this time without change of form, Y. 
Its position shows that it was admitted before Z. 

τῇ ἘΞ ς esting, and only θέτο as an ad haae form in certain aes, 


i= | such as kalendx, 


4° 


- 
» 
> 
». 
ye 
2 


CHAPTER II, 
MATERIALS USED TO RECEIVE WRITING. 


Or the various materials which have been used within 
the memory of man to receive writing, there are three, 
viz. papyrus, vellum, and paper, which, from their 
greater abundance and convenience, have, each one in 
its turn, displaced all others. But of the other materials 
several, including some which at first sight seem of a 
most unpromising character, have been largely used. 
For such a purpose as writing, men naturally make use 
of the material which can be most readily procured, and 
is, at the same time, the most suitable. If the ordinary 
material fail, they must extemporize a substitute. If 
somethirg more durable is wanted, metal or stone 
may take the place of vellum or paper. But with in- 
scriptions on these harder materials we have, in the 
present work, but little todo. Such inscriptions gene- 
rally fall under the head of epigraphy. Here we have 
chiefly to consider the softer materials on which hand- 
writing, as distinguished from monumental engraving, 
has been wont to be inscribed. Still, as will be seen in 
what follows, there aré certain exceptions ; and to some 
extent we shall have to inquire into the employment of 
metals, clay, potsherds, and wood, as well as of leaves, 
bark, linen, wax, papyrus, vellum, and paper, as materials 
for writing. We will first dispose of those substances 
which were of more limited use. 


Leaves. 


It is natural to suppose that, in a primitive state of 
society, leaves of plants and trees, strong enough for 


δ ee! al De, 


Materials used to receive Writing. 13 


the purpose, would be adopted as a ready-made material 
provided by nature for such an operation as writing. 
In various parts of India and the East the leaves of 
palm-trees have been in use for centuries, and continue 
to be employed for this purpose, and form an excellent and 
enduring substance. Manuscripts written on palm-leaves 
have been of late years found in Nepaul, which date back 
many hundreds of years. In Europe leaves of plants 
are not generally of the tough character of those which 
grow in the tropics ; but there can be no doubt that they 
were used in ancient Greece and Italy, and that the 
references by classical writers to their employment are 
not merely fanciful. There is evidence of the custom 
of πεταλισμός, or voting for ostracism with olive-leaves, 
at Syracuse, and of the similar practice at Athens 
under the name of ἐκφυλλοφορία. Pliny, Nat. Hist. 
xii. 11, writes: “ Antea non fuisse chartarum usum: in 
palmarum foliis primo scriptitatum, ois quarundam 
arborum libris.” 


Bark. 


Better adapted for writing purposes than leaves was 
the bark of trees, liber, which we have just seen named 
by Pliny, and the general use of which caused its name 
to be attached to the book (1.6. the roll) which was made 
from it. The inner bark of the lime-tree, diAvpa, cilia, 
was chosen as most suitable. Pliny, Nat. Hist. xvi. 14, 
describing this tree, says: “Inter corticem et lignum 
tenues tunicee sunt multiplici membrana, 6 quibus vincula 
tila vocantur tenuissimz earum philyre.” It was 
these delicate shreds, philyrx, of this inner skin or bark 
which formed the writing material. In the enumeration 
of different kinds of books by Martianus Capella, 11, 136, 
those consisting of lime-bark are quoted, though as 
rare: “ Rari vero in philyre cortice subnotati.” Ulpian 


1 The olive-leaf, used in this ceremony, is also mentioned, φύλλον 
ἐλαίας, as the material on which to inscribe a charm.—Cat. Gk. 
Papyri in Brit. Mus, pap. cxxi. 213; and a bay-leaf is enjoined 
for the same purpose in Papyrus 2207 in the Bibliothéaue 
Nationale. 


Ι4 Palxography. 


also, Digest. xxxii. 52, mentions “volumina ... in 
philyra aut in tilia.” But not only was the bark of the 
lime-tree used, but tablets also appear to have been made 
from its wood—the “tiliz pugillares” of Symmachus, 
iv. 34; also referred to by Dio Cassius, lxxii. 8, in the 
passage: “δώδεκα ypaumateia, οἷά ye ἐκ φιλύρας ποιεῖ- 
ται. Τῦ seems that rolls made from lime-bark were co- 
existent at Rome with those made from papyrus, after 
the introduction of the latter material; but the home- 
made bark must soon have disappeared before the 
imported Egyptian papyrus, which had so many advan- 
tages both in quantity and quality to recommend it. 


Linen. 


Linen cloth, which is found in use among the ancient 
Egyptians to receive writing, appears also as the material 
for certain rituals in Roman history. Livy, x. 98, refers 
to a book of this character, “ liber vetus linteus,”’ among 
the Samnites; and again, iv. 7, he mentions the “lintei 


libri” in the temple of Moneta at Rome. Pliny, Nat. Hist. 


xill. 11, names “‘ volumina lintea’’ as in use at an early 
period for private documents, public acts being recorded 
on lead. Martianus Capella, iii. 136, also refers to 
“ carbasina volumina”’; and in the Codex Theodos. 
xi, 27, 1, “ mappze linteze”’ occur. 


Clay and Pottery. 


Clay was a most common writing material among the 
Babylonians and Assyrians. ‘The excavations made of late 
years on the ancient sites of their great cities have brought 
to light a whole literature impressed on sun-dried or fire- 
burnt bricks. Potsherds came ready to the hand in 
Egypt, where earthenware vessels were the most common 
kind of household utensils. They have been found in 
large numbers, many inscribed in Greek with such 
ephemeral documents as tax and pay receipts, generally 
of the period of the Roman occupation.” ‘To such 
inscribed potsherds has been given the title of ostruka, 
a term which will recall the practice of Athenian ostracism 


2 See autotypes of some specimens in Pal, Soc. ii. pl. 1, 2. 


he ot 


ἘΦ. 


a heli Dal 


ya 


Materials used to receive Writing. 15 


in which the votes were recorded on such fragments.’ 
That such material was used in Greece only on such 
passing occasions or froin necessity is illustrated-by the 
passage in Diogenes Laertius, vil. 174, which narrates 
that the Stoic Cleanthes was forced by poverty to write 
on potsherds and the shoulder-blades of oxen. Tilvs 
also, upon which alphabets or verses were scratched with 
the stilus before baking, were used by both Greeks and 
Romans for educational purposes.‘ 


Wall-spaces. 


It is perhaps straining a term to include the walls of 


buildings under the head of writing materials; but the 
grafitti or wall-scribblings, discovered in such large 
numbers at Pompeii,° hold such an important place in 
the history of early Latin paleography, that 1t must not 
be forgotten that in ancient times, as now, a vacant wal] 
was held to be a very convenient place to present appeals 
to the public, or to scribble idle words. 


Metals. 


The precious metals were naturally but seldom used 
as writing materials. For such a purpose, however, as 
working a charm, an occasion when the person specially 
interested might be supposed not to be too niggard in his 
outlay in order to attain his ends, we find thin plates or 
leaves of gold or silver recommended,’ a practice which is 
paralleled by the crossing of the palm of the hand with 


8 Votes for ostracism at Athens were probably recorded on 
fragments of broken vases which had been used in religious 
services, and which were given out specially for the occasion. 
Only two such voting ostraka appear to be known: the one is 
described by Benndorf, Griech. und sicilische Vasenbi/der, tab. 
xxix. 10; the other, for the ostracism of Xanthippos, the father 
of Pericles (see Aristotle, Const. Athens, p. 61), is noticed by 
Studniczka, Antenor und archaische Malerei in Jahrbuch des kais. 
Deutschen Arch. Instituts, bd. ii. (1887), 161 

* Facsimiles in Corp. Jnser. Lat. iii. 962. 

5. Thid. iv. 

4 Cat. Gk. Papyri in Brit. Mus., pap. exxi. 580; also papyri 
in the Bibl. Nationale, 258, 2705, 2228, 


ΠΣ 


16 Paleography. 


a gold or silver coin as enjoinea by the gipsy fortune- 
teller. : 
Lead. 

Lead was used at an ancient date, Pliny, Nat. Hist. xiii. 
1], refers to “ plumbea volumina” as early writing mate- 
rial. Pausanias, ix. 31, 4, states that at Helicon he saw 
a leaden plate (μόλιβδος) on which the “Epya of Hesiod 
were inscribed. At Dodona tablets of lead have been 
discovered which contain petitions to the oracle, and in 
some instances the answers.’ Lenormant, Rhein. Museum, 
xxi. 276, has described the numerous small leaden pieces 
on which are written names of persons, being apparently 
sortes yudiciariz, or lots for selection of judges, of ancient 
date. Dirx, or solemn dedications of offending persons 
to the infernal deities by, or on behalf of, those whom 
they had injured, were inscribed on this metal. These 
maledictory inscriptions, called also defiwiones or 
κατάδεσμοι and καταδέσεις, appear to have been exten- 
sively employed. An instance is recorded by Tacitus, 
Annal. ii. 69, in his account of the last illness and 
death of Germanicus, in whose house were found, 
hidden in the floor and walls, remains of human bodies and 
“carmina et devotiones et nomen Germanici plumbeis 
tabulis insculptum.” Many have been found at Athens 
and other places in. Greece, and some in Italy; others 
again in a burial-ground near Roman Carthage. Several 
were discovered at Cnidus which have been assigned to 
the period between the third and first centuries 8.6. ; ‘ 
and recently a collection was found near Paphos in 
Cyprus, buried in what appears to have been a malefac- 
tors’ common grave. ‘hese Cnidian and Cyprian 
examples are now in the British Museum. Charms and 
incantations were also inscribed on thin leaves of lead.’ 

7 Carapanos, Dodone et ses Ruines (1878), p. 68, pl. xxxiv.—xl. ; 
Corp. Inscr. Lat. i. 818, 819. 

8 Bulletin de Corresp. Hellénique, 1888, p. 294. 

9 Newton, Discov. at Halicarnassus (1863), 11. 719-745; and 
Collitz and Bechtel, Griech. Dialekt-Inschriften, 11. 233. 

1 Soc. Biblical Archeology, Proceedings, vol. xiii. (1891), pt. iv. 


* Leemans, Papyri Grect Mus. Lugdun. 1885; Wessely, Griech. 
Zauber Papyri, 1858; Cat. Gk. Papyri in Lrit. Mus. pp. 64 sqq. 


ee 


Materials used to receive Writing. 17 


Montfaucon, Paleoyr. Greea, 16, 181, mentions and 
gives an engraving of a leaden book, apparently con- 


nected with magic. In 1€80 an imprecatory leaden 


tablet was dug up at Bath, the inscription being in 
Latin : a relic of the Roman occupation.’ Of later date 
is a tablet found ina grave in Dalmatia, containing a 
charm against evil spirits, in Latin, inscribed in cursive 
letters of the sixth century.* Several specimens which 
have been recovered from medizval graves prove that 
the custom of burying leaden inscribed plates with the 
dead was not uncommon in the middle ages.® The 
entployment of this metal for such purposes may have 
been recommended by its supposed durability. But 
lead is in fact highly sensitive to chemical action, and is 
liable to rapid disintegration under certain circum- 
stances. For the ancient dire it was probably used 
because it wascommon andcheap. For literary purposes 
it appears to have been to some extent employed in the 
middle ages in Northern Italy, leaden plates inscribed 
with historical and diplomatic records connected with 
Venice and Bologna being still in existence, apparently 
of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.® 
Bronze. 

Bronze was used both by Greeks and Romans as 
a material on which to engrave votive inscriptions, 
laws, treaties, and other solemn documents. ‘These, 
however, do not come under present consideration, 
being strictly epigraphical monuments. The only class 
which we need notice is that of the Roman military 
diplomas, those portable tabulz honestx missionts, as they 
have been called, which were given to veteran soldiers 
and conferred upon them rights of citizenship and 
marriage. Fifty-eight such documents, or portions of 
them, issued under the emperors, from Claudius to 
Diocletian, have been recovered.’ They are interesting 


8 Hermes xv.3; Journ. Brit. Arch. Assoc. xiii. 410, 
4 Corp. Inser. Lat. iii. 961. 
δ Wattenbach, Schrifiw. 42-44. 
6 Archxologia, xliv. 123. 
7 Corp. Inser. Lat. iii. 843 sqq. 
3 


13 Palxography. 


both paleographically, as giving a series of specimens 
of the Roman rustic capital letters, and also for the form 
which they took, exactly following that observed in the 
legal documents preserved in waxen tablets (see below). 

“They were, in fact, codices in metal. The diploma con- 
sisted of two square plates of the metal, hinged with 
rings. The authentic deed was engraved on the inner 
side of the two plates, and was repeated on the outside of 
the first plate. Through two holes a threefold wire was 
pas-ed and bound round the plates, being sealed on the 
outside of the second plate with the seals of the wit- 
nesses, whose names were also engraved thereon. The 
seals were protected by a strip of metal, attached, which 
was sometimes convex to afford better cover. In case 
of the outer copy being called in question, reference was 
made to the deed inside by breaking the seals, without 
the necessity of going to the official copy kept in the 
temple of Augustus at Rome. 

The repetition of the deed in one and the same 
diploma is paralleled in some of the Assyrian tablets, 
which, after being inscribed, received an outer casing of 
clay on which the covered writing was repeated. 


Wood. 


Wooden tablets were used in very remote times. In 
many cases they were probably coated, if not with wax, 
with sume kind of composition, the writing being 
scratched upon them with a dry point; in some in- 
stances we know that ink was inscribed upon the bare 
wood. The ancient Egyptians also used tablets covered 
with a glazed composition capable of receiving ink.’ 
W oodeu tablets inscribed with the names of the dead 
are found with mummies. They were also used for 
memoranda and accounts, and in the Keyptian schools ; 
specimens of tablets inscribed with receipts, alphabets, and 
verses having survived to the present day.? One of the 


$ Wilkinson, Anc. Egyp. 11. 183. 

9 Reuvens, Lettres, iil. 111; V'ransac, Roy. Soc. Lit., 2nd series, 
x. pt. 1; Leemans, Mon. Egypt. li. tab. 236. Sereral specimens 
of Egyptian inscribed tab'ets are in the British Museum. 


Materials used to recetve Writing. 19 


earliest specimens of Greek writing is a document in- 
scribed in ink on a small wooden tablet now in the 
British Museum (5849, C.); it refers to a money trans- 
action of the thirty-first year of Ptolemy Philadelphus 
(B.c. 254 or 253)." In the British Museum there is also 
a small wooden board (Add. MS. 33,293), painted white 
and incribed in ink with thirteen lines from the Iliad (11. 
273—285), the words being marked off and the syllables 
indicated by accents, no doubt for teaching young 
Greek scholars. It was found in Egypt, and is probably 
of the third century. ‘There is also a miscellaneous set 
of broken tablets (Add. MS. 33,369) inscribed in ink 
on a ground of drab paint, with records relating to the 
recovery of debts, etc., at Panopolis, the modern Ekhmim, 
in the Thebaid; probably of the seventh century. In 
the records of ancient Greece we have an instance of 
the employment of wooden boards or tablets. In 
the inventory of the expenses of rebuilding the 
Erechtheum at Athens, Bc, 407, the price of two 
boards, on which the rough accounts were first entered, 
is set down at two drachmas, or 93d. each: “σανίδες δύο 
ἐς as Tov λόγον avaypapouer.’* And again a second 
entry of four boards at the same price occurs. In some 
of the waxen tablets lately recovered at Pompeii, the 
pages which have been left in the plain wood are in- 
scribed in ink.* Wooden tablets were used in schools 
during the middle ages.* In England the custom of 
asing wooden tallies, inscribed as well as notched, in the 
public accounts lasted down to the present century. 


Waxen and other Tablets. 


Bat we may assume that as a general rule tablets 
were coated with wax’ from the very earliest times in 


1 See Revue Egyptologique,ii., Append., p.51; Pal. Soc. ii. pl. 142. 

3 Rangabé, Aniiy. Hellén. 56; Egger, Note sur le prix dz 
papier, etc., in Mém. d Hist. Ancienne (1863). 

5 Pal. Soe. i. pl. 159. 

* Wattenbach, Schrift. 78. 

* κηρύς, cera, or μάλθη, μάλθα. Pollux, Onomrst. x. 57, in his 
chapter περὶ βιβλίων names the composition: “ ὁ δὲ ἐνὼν τῇ πινακίδι 


20 Paleography. 


ν 


Greece and Rome. Such waxen tablets were single, 
double, triple, or of several pieces or leaves. In Greek 
they were called πίναξ, πινακίς, δέλτος, δελτίον, δελτέδιον, 
πυκτίον, πυξίον, γραμματεῖον : in Latin, cere, tabule, 
tabellz. The wooden surface was sunk to 8 slight 
depth, leaving a raised frame at the edges, after the 
fashion of a child’s school-slate of the present day, and 
a thin coating of wax, usually black, was laid over it. 
Tablets were used for literary composition,’ school exer- 
cises,’ accounts, or rough memoranda. ‘They were some- 
times fitted with slings for suspension. ‘T'wo or more put 
together, and held together by rings acting as hinges, 
formed a caudex or codex. Thus Seneca: De brev. vit. 18: 
“Plurium tabularum contextus caudex apud antiquos 
vocabatur ; unde publicee tabulee codices dicuntur.” 
When the codex consisted of two leaves it was called 
δίθυροι, δίπτυχα, diptycha, duplices ; of three, τρίπτυχα, 
triptycha, triplices; and of more, πεντάώπτυχα, penta- 
ptycha, quintuplices, πολύπτυχα, polyptycha, multiplices.” 
{fn Homer we have an instance of the use of a tablet in 
the death-message of King Proetus, “ graving in a folded 
tablet many deadly things.”* And Herodotus tells us 
(vii. 239) how Demaratus conveyed to the Lacedemon- 


ians secret intelligence of Xerxes’ intended invasion of 


Greece, by means of a message written on the wooden 
surface of a tablet (δελτίον δίπτυχον) from which the wax 
had been previously scraped but was afterwards renewed 
to cover the writing, On Greek vases of the fifth and 
fourth centuries B.c., tablets, generally triptychs, are 
represented, both open in the hands of the goddess 


a a INO ΑΔ {λθ 

κηρὺς, ἢ μάλθη, 7 μάλθα. “HodSoros μεν γὰρ κηρὸν εἴρηκε. Kpativos δὲ ἐν 
τῇ Πυτίνῃ μάλθην ἔφη. Μάλθα appears to have been wax mixed 
with tar. Ci. Aristoph. Frag. 206: “τὴν μάκθαν ἐκ τῶν γραμμα- 
τείων ἤσθιον.᾽" 

5 See Pollux, Onomasticon, x. 57. 

τ Quintilian, Instit. orator. x. 3, 31, recommends the use of 

waxen tablets : ‘‘ Scribi optime ceris, in quibus facillima est ratio.” 

* Horace, Sat. I. vi. 74, “ Laevo suspensi loculos tubulamque 
lacerto.” 

9 Martial, xiv. 4, 6. 

1 Tliad, vi. 169: “ γράψας ἐν πίνακι πτυκτῷ θυμοφθύρα πολλά," 


δ ὦ -Αδ' 


δα γα ἦν Ὁ ΑΡΆΝΘΩΝ 


Materials used to recewe Writing. 21 


Athena or other persons, and closed and bound round 
with strings, hanging from the wall by slings or handles.” 

Tablets in the codex form would be used not only as 
mere note-books, but especially in all cases where the 
writing was to be protected from injury either for the 
moment or for a long period. Hence they were used 
for legal documents, conveyances and wills, and for 
correspondence. When used for wills, each puge was 
technically called cera, as in Gaius, ii. 104: “ Hee, ita 
ut in his tabulis cerisque scripta sunt, ita do lego.’ * 
They were closed against inspection by passing a triple 
thread, λίνον, linum, through holes in the boards, and seal- 
ing it with the seals of the witnesses, as will presently be 
more fully explained. As to correspondence, small tablets, 
codicilli or pugillares, were employed for short letters ; 
longer letters, epistol/e, were written on papyrus. Thus 
Seneca, Hp. 55, 11, makes the distinction: ‘‘ Adeo tecum 
sum, ut dubitem an incipiam non epistulas sed codicillos 
tibi scribere.” The tablets were sent by messengers, 
tabellarit, as explained by Festus:* “ 'Tabellis pro chartis 
utebantur antiqui, quibus ultro citro, sive privatim sive 
publice opus erat, certiores absentes faciebant. Unde 
adhuc tabellarii dicuntur, et tabellae missz ab impera- 
toribus.”* ‘The answer to the letter was inscribed on the 
same set of tablets and returned. Love-letters appear to 
have been sometimes written on very small tablets ;° Mar- 
tial, xiv. 8, 9, calls them Vitelliani. Tablets containing 


* See Gerhard, Auserlesene Vasenbilder, 111. 239, iv. 244, 237, 
228, 259, 296; Luynes, Vases, 30. 

3 Cf. Horace, Sat. II. v. 51: 

“Ὁ testamentum tradet tibi cunqne legendum 
Abnuere, et tabulas a te removere memento; 
Sic tamen, ut limis rapias quid prima secundo 
Cera velit versn.’ 

4 De Verborum Signif., ed Miller, Ρ. 959, 

* Compare St. Jerome, Fp. viii.: ‘Nam et rudes illi Τί vie 
homines, ante chartz et εἰηζον Ῥόηε ρθε usum, aut in dedolatis e 
ligno codicillis aut in corticibus arborum mnutuo epistolarum 
alloquia missitabant. Unde et portitores eorum tabellarios et 
scriptores a libris arborum librarios vocavere.’ 

* See the drawing in Museo Borbonico. i. 2. 


25 Palxography. 


letters were fastened with a thread, which was scaled.’ 


The materials for letter-writing are enumerated in the 


passage of Plautus, Bacchides, iv. 714: “ Ecfer cito ... 
stilum, ceram et tabellas, linum’”?; and the process of 


sealing in line 748: “cedo tu ceram ac linum actutum 


age obliga, opsignacito.” In Cicero, Catil. ii. 5, we have 
the opening of a letter: “" Tabellas proferri jussimus. 
. . . Primo ostendimus Cethego signum ; cognovit; nos 
linum incidimus ; legimus. . . . Introductus est Statilius ; 
cognovit et signum et manum suam,” 

The custom of writing letters on tablets survived for 
some centuries after classical times. In the 5th century 
St. Augustine in his epistle to Romanianus (Migne, 
Patrolog. Lat. xxxii. 80) makes reference to his tablets 
in these words :— Non hee epistola sic inopiam charte 
indicat, ut membranas saltem abundare testetur. Ta- 
bellas eburneas quas habeo avunculo tuo cum litteris 
misi. Tu enim huic pellicule facilius ignosces, quia 
differri non potuit quod ei scripsi, et tibi non scribere 
etiam ineptissimum existimavi. Sed tabellas, si que 10] 
nostra sunt, propter hujusmodi necessitates mittas peto.” 
St. Hilary of Arles likewise has the followmg passage 
in his Life of Honoratus (Migne, Patrol. Lat. 1. 1261): 
—‘‘ Beatus Eucherius cum ab eremo in tabulis, ut assolet, 
cera illitis, in proxima ab ipso degens insula, litteras ejus 
suscepisset: ‘ Mel,’ inquit, ‘suum ceris reddidisti.’” 
Both these passages prove that the custom was general 
at the period. Even as late as the year 1148 a letter 
“in tabella”’ was written by a monk of Fulda.® 

It will be noticed that St. Augustine refers to his tablets 

-as being of ivory. The ancient tablets were ordinarily 
of common wood, such as beech, or fir, or box, the 
“vulgaris buxus ” of Propertius (111. 23); but they were 
also made of more expensive material. ‘I'wo of Martial’s 
apophoreta are “pugillares citrei” and “ pugillares 
eborei.” Propertius (lc.) refers to golden fittings: 
“Non illas fixum caras effecerat aurum.”’ The large 


7 Clay, eretula, was originally used: γῆ σημᾶντρις, Herod. 11.38; 
foros, Aristoph. Lyszs. 1200, Pollux, Onomast. x. 58. 
8 Wattenbach, Schri/tw. 48. 


3 
4 
4 
7 


Materials used to receive Writing. 23 


consular diptychs, as we know from existing specimens, 
were of ivory, often most beautifully carved. 

The employment of waxen tablets lasted for certain 
purposes through the middle ages in countries ot Western 
Europe. Specimens inscribed with money accounts of 
the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries have survived 
to the present day in France®; and municipal accounts 
on tablets of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries are 
still preserved in some of the German towns. ‘They 
alsc exist in Italy,’ dating from the thirteenth or four- 
teenth century; they were used in England; and 
specimens are reported to have been found in Ireland. 
Ji is said that quite recently sales in the fish-market of 
Rouen were noted on waxen tablets.’ 


Greek Waxen Tablets. 


Ancient Greek waxen tablets have survived in not many 
instances. In the British Museum are some which have 
been found in Egypt. The most perfect is a book (Add. 
MS. 33,270), perhaps of the third century, measuring 
nearly nine by seven inches, which consists of seven tablets 
coated on both sides with black wax and two covers 
waxed on the inner side, inscribed with documents in 
shorthand, presumably in Greek, and with shorthand 
signs written repeatedly, as if for practice, and with 
notes in Greek; in one of the covers a groove is hol- 
lowed for the reception of the writing implements. 
Another smaller book, of about seven by four inches, 
formed of six tablets (Add. MS. 853,368), 1s mscribed, 
probably by some schoolboy of the third century, with 
grammatical exercises and other notes in Greek, and 
also with a rough drawing, perhaps meant for a carica- 
ture of the schoolmaster. There are also two tablets 


® A tablet of accounts, of about the year 1300, from Citeaux 
Abbey, is in the British Museum, Add. MS. 33, 215. Four tablets, 
of the 14th century, found at Beauvais, are in the Bibliothéque 
Nationale—Acad. des Inscriptions, Comptes Rendus, 1887, p. 141. 

' See Milani, Sei Tavolette cerate, in Pubbl. del R. Istituto di 
Studi Superiori, 1877. 

2 Wattenbach, Schriftw. 74. 


24 Paleography. 


inscribed with verses in Greek uncial writing, possibly 
some literary sketch or a school exercise.’ ‘Il'wo others 
of asimilar nature have been recently acquired, the one 
containing a writing exercise, the other a multiplication 
table. The Bodleian Library has also lately purchased 
a waxen tablet (Gr. Inscr. 4) on which is.a writing 
exercise. Others are at Paris; some containing scribbled 
alphabets and a contractor’s accounts, which were found 
at Memphis. In New York is a set of five tablets, on 
which are verses, in the style of Menander, set as a copy 
by a writing-master and copied by a pupil. Other 
specimens of a similar character are at Marseilles, the 
date of which can be fixed at the end of the 3rd or 
beginning of the 4th century ;° and the last leaf of a 
document found at Verespatak, where so many Latin 
tablets have been discovered, is preserved at Karls- 
burg.’ 
Latin Waxen Tablets. 

Extant Latin tablets are more numerous, but have only 
been found in comparatively recent years.  ‘l'wenty-four, 
containing deeds ranging in date from 4.p. 131 to 167, 
were recovered, between the years 1786 and 1855, from 
the ancient mining works in the neighbourhood of Albur- 
nus Major, the modern Verespatak, in Dacia. In 1840 
Massmann published the few which had at that time 
beea discovered, in his Libellus Aurarius; but the ad- 
mission into his book of two undoubtedly spurious docu- 
ments cast suspicion on the rest, which were accordingly 
denounced until the finding of other tablets proved their 
genuineness. The whole collection is given in the 
Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum of the Berlin Aca-_ 
demy, vol. 11. 

During the excavations at Pompeii in July, 1875, a box 


3 See Verhandl. der Philologen-Versamml. zu Wirzburg, 1869, 
. 239, 
3 4 Revue Archéol. vii. 461, 470. 
5 Proceedings of the American Acad. of Arts and Sciences, iii.371. 
6 Annuaire de la Soc. Fran, de Numism. et d’Archéol. iii. 
Xxi.—Ixxvil. 


7 Corpus Inscr. Lat. ii, 923. 


πῆρ νν ς᾽ 


Materials used to recewve Writing. 25 


containing 127 waxen tablets was discovered in the house 
of L. Cecilius Jucundus, They proved to be perserip- 
tawones and other deeds connected with sales by auction 
and receipts for payment of taxes.® 

The recovery of so many specimens of Latin tablets 
has afforded ample means of understanding the mechani- 
cal arrangement of such documents among the Romans. 
Like the military tabule honest2 missionis, they con- 
tained the deed under seal and the duplicate copy open 
to inspection. But most of them consist of three leaves: 
they are triptychs, the third leaf being of great service 
in giving cover to the seals. The Pompeian and Dacian 
tablets differ from one another in some particulars; but 
the general arrangement was as follows, The triptych 
was made from one block of wood, cloven into the 
three required pieces, or leaves, which were fastened by 
strings or wires passing through two holes near the edge 
and serving for hinges. In the Pompeian tablets, ove 
side of each leaf was sunk within a frame, the hollowed 
space being coated with wax in such a way that, of the 
six sides or pages, nos. 2, 3, 5 were waxen, while 1, 4, 6 
were of plain wood. ‘The first and sixth sides were not 
used ; they formed the outside. On the sides 2 and 3 
was inscribed the deed, and on 4 the names of the 
Witnesses were written in ink and their seals sunk into 
a grocve cut down the centre, the deed beirg closed 
by a string of three twisted threads, which passed 
through two holes, one at the head and the other at the 
foot of the groove, round the two leaves and under the 
wax of the seals, which thus secured it. An abstract 
or copy of the deed was inscribed on page 5. The 
Dacian tablets differed in this respect, that page 4 was 
also waxen, and that the copy of the deed was com- 
menced on that page in the space on the left of the 
groove, the space on the right being filled with the 


8 Atti della R. Accademia dei Lincei, ser. ii. vol. iii. pt. 3, 
1875-76, pp. 15U—230; Hermes, vol. xii. 1877, pp. 88-141; and 
Overbeck, Pompeji, 4th ed. by Man. 1884, pp. 489 sqq. The 
whole collection 15 to be edited by Prof. Zangemeister in the 
Corpus Inser. Lat. Sve Pal. Soc. i. pl. 169. 


es 


5.6" Palxography. 


witnesses’ names. The following diagram shows the 
arrangement of a Dacian triptych :-— 


Copy of .deed 
ends 


It will be noticed that, although the string which 
closed the deed (as indicated by dotted lines) passed 
through the holes of only two of the leaves, yet the 
third leaf (pages 5 and 6) is also perforated with 
corresponding holes. This proves that the holes were 
first pierced in the solid block, before it was cloven 
into three, in order that they might afterwards adjust 
themselves accurately.’ In one instance the fastening 
threads and seals still remain.’ 


9 See Corp. Inscr. Lat. 111. 922. 
1 pid. 938, 


COAPTER IIL. 


MATERIALS USED TO RECEIVE WRITING—~-continued. 


WE now have to examine the history of the more com- 
mon writing-materials of the ancient world and of the 
middle ages, viz. papyrus, vellum, and paper. 


Papyrus. 

The papyrus plant, Cyperus Papyrus, which supplied 
the substance for the great writing material of the 
ancient world, was widely cultivated in the Delta of 
Egypt. From this part of the country it has now 
vanished, but it still grows in Nubia and Abyssinia. 
Theophrastus, Hist. Plant. iv. 10, states that it also 
grew in Syria, and Pliny adds that it was native to the 
Niger and Euphrates. Its Greek name πάπυρος, whence 
Latin papyrus, was derived from one of its ancient 
Egyptian names, P-apa. Herodotus, our most ancient 
authority for any details of the purposes for which the 
plant was employed, always calls it βύβλος, a word no 
doubt also taken from an Egyptianterm. Theophrastus 
describes the plant as one which grows in the shallows 
to the height of six feet, with a triangular and tapering 
stem crowned with a tufted head; the root striking out 
at right angles to the stem and being of the thickness 
of a man’s wrist. The tufted heads were used for 
garlands in the temples of the gods; of the wood of the 
root were made various utensils; and of the stem, the 
pith of which was also used as an article of food, a 
variety of articles, including writing material, were 
manufactured: caulking yarn, ships’ rigging, light 
skiffs, shoes, etc. ‘The cable with which Ulysses bound 


28 Paleography. 


the doors of the hall when he slew the suitors was 
ὅπλον βύβλινον (Odyss. xxi. 390). 

As a writing material papyrus was employed in Egypt 
from the earliest times. Papyrus roils are represented 
on the sculptured walls of Egyptian temples; and rolls 
themselves exist of immense antiquity. The most 
ancient papyrus roll now extant is the Papyrus Prisse, 
at Paris, which contains the copy of a work composed in 
the reign of 2 king of the fifth dynasty and is itself of 
about the year 2500 B.c. or earlier. ‘The dry atmosphere 
of Egypt has been specially favourable to the preserva- 
tion of these fragile documents. Buried with the dead, 
they have lain in the tombs or swathed in the folds of 
the mummy-cloths for centuries, untouched by decay, 
and in many instances remain as fresh as on the day 
when they were written. 

Among the Greeks the papyrus material manu- 
factured for writing purposes was called yaptns (Latin 
charta) as weli as by the names of the plant itself, 
Herodotus, v. 58, refers to the early use of papyrus rolls 
among the Ionian Greeks, te which they attached the 
name of διφθέραι, “skins,” the writing material to which 
they had before been accustomed. Their neighbours, 
the Assyrians, were also acquainted with 10} They 
called it “the reed of Kgypt.””? An inscription relating 
to the expenses of the rebuilding of the Hrechtheum at 
Athens in the year 407 B.c. shows that papyrus was 
used for the fair copy of the rough accounts, which 
were first inscribed on tablets. Two sheets, χάρται δύο, 
cost at the rate of a drachma and two obols each, or a 
little over a shilling of our money.’ 

The period of its first importation into Italy is not 
known. The story of its introduction by Ptolemy, at 


1 Tn the Assyrian wall-sculptures in the British Museum there 
are two scenes (Nos. 38 and 84) in which two couples of scribes 
are represented taking notes. In each case, one of the scribes 
is using a folding tablet (the hinges of one being distinctly 
represented), and the other a scroll, The scroll may be either 
papyrus or leather 

2 See above, p. 19. 


wey 


~~ 


a Sey 


» ." wip 


Materials used to recewe Writing. 29 


the suggestion of Aristarchus, is of suspicious authenti- 
οἷν." We know, however, that papyrus was plentiful 
in Rome under the Empire. In fact, it was the common 
writing material among the Romans at that period, and 
became so indispensable that,on a temporary failure of 
the supply in the reign of Tiberius, there was danger of 
a popular tumult.‘ Pliny also, Vat. Hist. xui. 11, refers 
to its high social value in the words: “ papyri natura 
dicetur, cum chartz usu maxime humanitas vite constet, 
certe memoria,’ and again he describes it as a thing 
“qua constat immortalitas hominum.” 

It is probable that papyrus was imported into Italy 
already manufactured ; and it is doubtful whether any 
native plant grew in that country. Strabo says that it 
was found in Lake Trasimene and other lakes of Ktruria ; 
but the accuracy of this statement has been disputed. 
Still, it is a fact that there was a manufacture of this 
writing material carried on in Rome, the charta Fanniana 
being an instance; but it has been asserted that this 
industry was confined to the re-making of imported 
material. The more brittle condition of the Latin papyri, 
as compared with the Greek papyri, found at Hercu- 
laneum, has been ascribed to the detrimental effect of this 
re-manufacture. 

Ata later period the Syrian variety of the plant was 
grown in Sicily, where it was probably introduced during 
the Arab occupation. It was seen there by the Arab 
traveller, [bn-Haukal, in the tenth century, in the neigh- 
bourhood of Palermo, where it throve in great luxuriance 
in the shallows of the Puapireto, astream to which it gave 
its name. Paper was made from this source for the use of 
the Sultan; but in the thirteenth century the plant began to 
fail, and it was finally extinguished by the drying up of the 
stream in 1591. It is still, however, to be seen growing 
in the neighbourhood of Syracuse, but was probably 
transplanted thither at a later time, for no mention of it 


5 See below, p. 96, ᾿ 

4 Pliny, Nat. Hist. xiii. 13, “ Sterilitatem sentit hoe quoqne, 
factumque jam Tiberio principe inopia charte, ut e senatu 
darentur arbitri dispensande ; alias in tumultu vita erat.” 


20 Paleography. 


in that place occurs earlier than 1674, Some attempts 
have been made in receut years to manufacture a writing 
material on the pattern of the ancient charta from this 
Sicilian plant. 

The manufacture of the writing material, as practised 
in Egypt, is described by Pliny, Nut. Hist. xiii. 12. His 
desciiption apples specially to the system of his own day ; 
but no doubt it was essentially the same that had been 
followed for centuries. His text is far from clear, and 
there are consequently many divergences of opinion on 
different points. The stem of the plant was cut longitu- 
dinally into thin strips (philyre)* with a sharp cutting 
instrument described as a needle (acus). The old idea 
that the strips were peeled off the inner core of the stem 
is now abandoned, as it has been shown that the plant, 
like other reeds, contains a cellular pith within the rind, 
which was all used in the manufacture. ‘lhe central strips 
were naturally the best, being the widest. ‘lhe strips 
thus cut were laid vertically upon a board, side by side, 
to the required width, thus forming a layer, scheda, 
across which another layer of shorter strips was laid at 


right angles. JVliny applies to this process the phrase-— 


ology of net or basket making. The two layers formed a 
“net,” plagula, or “ wicker,” crates, which was thus 
*‘ woven,” texitur. In this process Nile water was used 
for moistening the whole. ‘The special mention of this 
particular water has caused some to believe that there 
were some adhesive properties in it which acted as a paste 
or glue on the material; others, more reasonably, have 
thought that water, whether from the Nile or any other 
source, solved the glutinous matter in the strips and thus 
caused them to adhere. It seems, however, more probable 
that paste was actually used.6 The sheets were finally 


® Birt, Antibes Buchwesen, 229, prefers to apply the word schrdz 
or schide tothe strips. But Pliny distinctly usesthe word philyiz, 
although he elsewhere describes the inner bark of the lime tree Ly 
this name. Another name for the strips was ine. 

6 Birt, 231, points out, in regard to Pliny’s words, “turbidus 
liquor vim glutinis prebet,” that ‘‘ glutinis” is not a genitive 
but a dative, Pliny never using the word “gluten,” but 
“olutnum.” 


es ἜΣ 


4 
x 
ε 
᾿ 


Materials used to recewe Writing. 31 


pressed and dried in the sun. Rough or uneven places 
were rubbed down with ivory or a sinooth shell.” Mois- 
ture lurking between the layers was to be detected by 
strokes of the mallet. Spots, stains, and spongy strips 
(tantz) in which the ink would run, were defects which 
also had to be encountered.® 

The sheets were joined together with paste to form 
a roll, scapus, but not more than twenty was the pre- 
scribed number. There are, however, rolls of more than 
twenty sheets, so that, if Pliny’s reading vicinz is correct, 
the number was not constant in all times. ‘The outside 
of the roll was naturally that part which was more 
exposed to risk of damage and to general wear and 
tear. The best sheets were therefore reserved for this 
position, those which lay nearer the centre or end of the 
roll not being necessarily so good. Moreover, the end of 
a roll was not wanted in case of a short text, and might 
be cut away. A protecting strip of papyrus was often 
pasted down the edge at the beginning or end of a roll, 
in order to give additional strength to the material and 
prevent it tearing. The first sheet of a papyrus roll 
was called the πρωτόκολλον, a term which still survives 
in diplomacy ; the last sheet was called the ἐσ χατοκόλλιον. 
Among the Romans the protocol was marked with the 
name of the Comes Jargitionum, who had the control of the 
manufacture, and with the date and name of the place 
where it was made. The portion thus marked was in 
ordinary practice cut away; but this curtailment was 
forbidden in legal documents by the laws of Justinian." 
After their conquest of Egypt in the seventh century, 
the Arabs continued the manufacture and marked the 


7 Martial, xiv. 209: 
“Levis ab squorea cortex Mareotica concha 
Fiat; inoffen a currit harundo via.” 

8. Pliny, L£pist. vii. 15: “que (charte) si scabre bibuleve 
sint,” etc. 

9 Wilcken, in Hermes, xxiii. 466. 

10. “ Tabelliones non scribant instrumenta in aliis chartis quam 
in his que protocolla habent, ut tamen protocollum tale sit, quod 
habeat nomen gloriosissimi comitis largitionum et tempus quo 
charta facta est *“—Nore/l. xliv. 2. 


32 Paleography. 


protocol in Arabic. An instance of an Arab protocol 
thus marked is found in a bull of Pope John VIII. 
of 876, now in the Bibliothéque Nationale, Paris. 

With regard to the width of papyrus rolls, those which — 
date from the earliest period of Egyptian history are 
narrow, of about six inches; later they increase to nine, 
eleven, and even above fourteen inches. The width of 
the early Greek papyri of Homer and Hyperides in the 
3ritish Museum runs from nine to ten inches. From 
Pliny we learn that there were various qualities of writ- 
ing material made from papyrus and that they differed 
from one another in width. It has however been found 
that extant specimens do not tally with the figures that 
he gives; but an ingenious explanation has been lately 
proposed,’ that he refers to the breadth of the individual 
sheets which together make up the length of the roll, 
not to the height of the sheets which forms its width. The 
best kind, formed from the broadest strips of the plant, 
was originally the charta hieratica, a name which was 
afterwards altered to Augusta out of flattery to the 
emperor Augustus. The charta Livia, or second 
quality, was named after his wife. The hieratica thus 
descended to the third rank. The Augusta and Livia 
were 13 digits, or about 94 inches, wide; the hieratica 
11 ‘digits or 8 inches. The charta amphitheatrica, of 9 
digits or 64 inches, took its title from the principal 
place of its manufacture, the amphitheatre of Alexandria. 
The charta Laniiana was apparently a variety which 
was re-made at Rome, in the workshops of a certain 
Fannius, from the amphitheatrica, the width being in- — 
creased by about an inch through pressure. The Saitica 
was a common variety, named after the city of Sais, being 
of about 8 digits or 53 inches. Finally, there were the 
Teentotica—which was said to have taken its name from 
the place where it was made, a tongue of land (ταινία) 
near Alexandria—and the common packing-paper, charta 
emporetica, neither of which was more than 5 inches 
wide. Mention is made by Isidore, Etymol. vi. 10, of a 


1 Birt, 251 sqq. 


ἜΑ ΨΉΝΜΜΨΟΝ 


= 
* 


eo ἃ 


Materials used to receive Writing. 33 


quality of papyrus called Corneliana, which was first 
made under C. Cornelius Gallus when prefect of Egypt. 
But the name may have disappeared from the vocabulary 
when Gallus fell into disgrace.* Another kind was 
manufactured in the reign of Claudius, and on that ac- 
count was named Claudia. It was a made-up material, 
combining the Augusta and Livia, to provide a stout sub- 
stance. Finally, there was a large-sized quality, of a 
cubit or nearly 18 inches in width, called macrocollon, 
Cicero made use of it (pp. ad Attic. xin. 25; xvi. 3). 

Varro, repeated by Pliny, xiii. 11, makes the extra- 
ordinary statement that papyrus writing material was 
first made in Alexander’s time. He may have been 
misled from having found no reference to its use in pre- 
Alexandrine authors; or he may have meant to say that 
its first free manufacture was only of that date, as it was 
previously a government monopoly. 

Papyrus continued to be the ordinary writing material 
in Egypt to acomparatively late period? Greek docu- 
ments of the early centuries of our era have been found 
in considerable numbers in the Fayoum and other dis- 
tricts.. In Europe also, long after vellum had become 
the principal writing material, especially for literary 
purposes, papyrus continued in common use, particularly 
for ordinary documents, such as letters. St. Jerome, 
Ep. vii., mentions vellum as a material for letters, “ if 
papyrus fails”; and St. Augustine, Kp. xv., apologizes 
for using vellum instead of papyrus. A fragmentary 
epistle of Constantine V. to Pepin le Bref, of 756, is 
preserved at Paris. A few fragments of Greek literary 


papyri of the early middle ages, containing Biblical 


matter and portions of Greeco-Latin glossaries, have also 
survived, 
For purely Latin literature papyrus was also occa- 


* Thid. 250. 

3 The middle of the tenth century is the period when it has 
been caiculated the manufacture of papyrus in Egypt ceased.— 
Karabacek, Das arahische Papier, in Mittheilungen aus der 
eens der Papyrus Erzherzog Rainer, bd. iu.-i. (1837), 
p. 98. 

4 


34 Palxography. 


sionally used in the early middle ages. Examples, made 
up in book form, sometimes with a few vellum leaves in- 
corporated to give stability, are found in different 
libraries of Europe. They are: The Homilies of St. 
Avitus, of the 6th century, at Paris; Sermons and 
Hpistles of St. Augustine, of the 6th or 7th century, at 
Paris and Genoa; works of Hilary, of the 6th century, at 
Vienna; fragments of the Digests, of the 6th century, at 
Pommersfeld ; the Antiquities of Josephus, of the 7th cen- 
tury, at Milan ; an Isidore, of the 7th century, at St. Gall. 
At Munich, also, is the register of the Church of 


Ravenna, written on this material in the 10th century. 


Many papyrus documents in Latin, dating from the 5th 
to the 10th century, have survived from the archives of 
Ravenna; and there are extant fragments of two imperial 
rescripts written in Egypt, apparently im the oth century, 
in @ form of the Latin cursive alphabet which is other- 
wise unknown. Inthe papal chancery papyrus appears 
to have been used down toa late date in preference to 
vellum. A few papal bulls on this material have survived ; 
the earliest being one of Stephen III. of the year 757; the 
latest, one of Sergius LV. of 1011. In France papyrus 
was in common use in the sixth century.® Under the 
Merovingian kings it was used for official documents; 
several papyrus deeds of their period, dated from 625 
to 692, being still preserved in the french archives, 


Skins. 


The skins of animals are of such a durable nature that 


it is no matter for surprise to find that they have been 


appropriated as writing material by the ancient nations 
of the world. They were in use among the Egyptians as 
early asthe time of Cheops, in the 4th dynasty, documents 
written on skins at that period being referred to or 
copied in papyri of later date... Actualspecimens of skin 
rolls from Keypt still exist. In the British Museum is a 


4 Rapport de M. Delisle, in Bulletin du Conité des Travaue 
hist. et scient., 1885, No. 2. 

® Gregory of Tours, Hist. France. v. 5. 

6 Wilkinson, Anc. Eyypt., ed. Birch, ii. 182. 


Materials used to recetve Writing. 45 


ritual on white leather (Salt, 256) which may be dated 
about the year 2000 3.c. The Jews followed the same 
custom, and to the present day continue it in their syna- 
gogue rolls. It may be presumed that their neighbours 
the Phoenicians also availed themselves of the same kind 
of writing material. The Persians inscribed their history 
upon skins.’ The use of skins, διφθέραι, among the 
Ionian Greeks is referred to by Herodotus, v. 58, who 
adds that in his day many foreign nations also wrote on 
them, 


Parchment and Vellum. 


After what has been here stated regarding the early 
use of skins, the introduction of parchment, or vellum as 
it is now more generally te:med, that is to say, skins 
prepared in sucha way that they could be written upon 
on both sides, cannot properly be called an invention ; it 
was rather an extension of, or improvement upon, an old 
practice. Thecommon story, as told by Pliny, Nat. Hist. 
ΧΙ]. 11, on the authority of Varro, runs that Eumenes II. 
of Pergamum (s.c. 197—148), wishing to extend the 
hbrary in his capital, was opposed by the jealousy of the 
Ptolemies, who forbade the export of papyrus, hoping 
thus to check the growth of a rival library. ‘The 
Pergamene king, thus thwarted, was forced to fall back 
again upon skins; and thus came about the manufacture 
of vellum: “ Mox emulatione circa bibliothecas regum 
Ptolemzi et Humenis, supvrimente chartas Ptolemeo, 
idem Varro membranas Pergami tradit repertas.” ἢ 
Whatever may be the historical value of this tra- 
dition, at least it points to the fact that Pergamum 
was the chie centre of the vellum trade. The name 
διφθέραι, membrane, which had been applied to the 


7 Diodorus, 1]. 32: “ ἐκ τῶν βασιλικῶν διφθέρων, ἐν ais οἱ Πέρσαι τὰς 
παλαιὰς πράξεις εἶχον συντεταγμένας." 

8 St. Jerome, Lp. vii., also refers to the place of its origin: 
“Chartam defuisse non puto, Agypto ministrante commercia. 
Et si alicubi Ptolemzeus maria clausisset, tamen rex Attalus 
membranas a Pergamo miserat, ut penuria charte pellibus 
pensaretur. Unde et Pergamenarum nomen ad hune usque 
diem, tradente sibi invicem posteritate, servatum est.” 


τος Paleography. 


earlier skins, was extended also to the new manufacture, 
The title membrana -Pergamena is comparatively late, 
first occurring iu the edict of Diocletian, a.p. 301, de 
pretiis rerum, vil. 88 ; next in the passage in St. Jerome’s 
epistle, quoted in the footnote. The Latin name was also 
Greecized as μεμβράναι, being so used in 2 Tim. iv. 13: 
“μάλιστα Tas μεμβράνας." The word σωμάτιον, which 
afterwards designated a vellum MS. as opposed to a 
papyrus rol], had reference originally to the contents, 
such a MS. being capable of containing an entire work 
or corpus.° 

As to the early use of vellum among the Greeks and 
Romans, no evidence is to be obtained from the results of 
excavations. No specimens have been recovered at 
Herculaneum or Pompeii, and none of sufficiently early 
date in Egypt. There can, however, be little doubt that 
it was imported into Rome under the Republic. The 
general account of its introduction thither—evidently 
suggested by Varro’s earlier story of the first use of 
it—is that Ptolemy, at the suggestion of Aristarchus 
the grammarian, having sent papyrus to Rome, Crates 
the grammarian, out of rivalry, induced Attalus of 
Pergamum to send vellum.’ References to the pages 
of certain municipal deeds seem to imply that the latter 
were inscribed in books, that is, in vellum MSS., not 
on papyrus rolls.?_ When Cicero, Epp. ad Attic. xiii. 24, 
uses the word διφθέραι, he also seems to refer to vellum. 
The advantages of the vellum book over the papyrus roll 
are obvious: it was in the more convenient form of the 
codex; it could be re-written; and the leaves could 
receive writing on both sides. Martial enumerates, 
among his Apophoreta, vellum MSS. of Homer (xiv. 184), 


Virgil (186), Cicero (188), Livy (190),and Ovid (192). 


9 Birt, Ant. Buchw., 41. 

1 Boissonade, Anecd. 1. 420, 

3 Mommsen, Jnscr. Neapol. 6828; Annali del Inst. (1858) 
xxx. 192; Marquardt, Privatleben der Rimer, 796. 

3 Pliny, Nat. Hist. vii. 21, mentions a curiosity: “In nuce 
neler Iliadem Homeri carmen in me.braua scriptum tradit 

icero.” 


Materials used to recewe Writing. ἐν 


Vellum tablets began to take the place of the tubule 
ceratz, as appears in Martial, xiv. 7: “Esse puta ceras, 
licet hec membrana vocetur: Delebis, quotiens scripta 
novare voles.” Quintilian, x. 3, 31, recommends the use 
of vellum for drafts of their compositions by persons 
of weak sight: the ink on vellum was more easily read 
than the scratches of the stilus on wax.* Horace refers to 
it in Sat. ii. 3: “Sic raro scribis ut toto non quater anno 
Membranam poscas”’; and in other places. 

From the dearth of classical specimens and from the 
scanty number of early medieval MSS. of secular authors 
which have come down to us, it seems that vellum was 
not a common writing material under the first Roman 
emperors. ‘here are no records to show its relative 
value in comparison with papyrus.® But the latter had 
been so long the recognized material for literary use that 
the slow progress of vellum as its rival may be partly 
ascribed to natural conservatism. It was particularly 
the influence of the Christian Church that eventually 
_ earried vellum into the front rank of writing materials 

and in the end displaced papyrus. As papyrus had been 
the principal material for receiving the thoughts of the 
pagan world, vellum was to be the great medium for 
conveying to mankind the literature of the new religion. 

The durability of vellam recommended it to an extent 
that fragile papyrus could in no way pretend to. When 
Constantine required copies of the Scriptures for his new 
churcheg, he ordered fifty MSS. on vellum, “ πεντήκοντα 
σωμάτια ev didGepais,” to be prepared. And St. Jerome, 
Ip. exli., refers to the replacement of damaged volumes 
in the library of Pamphilus at Czsarea by MSS. on 
vellum: “Quam [bibliothecam] ex parte corruptam 


* So also Martial, xiv. 5: “Languida ne tristes obscurent 
lumina cere. Nigra tibi niveum littera pingat ebur.” 

> Birt, Ant. Buchwesen, has attempted to prove that vellum 
was ἃ comparatively worthless commodity, used as a cheap 
material for rough drafts and common work. His conclusions, 
however, cannot be accepted. For example, few probably will 
agree with him that a copy of Homers Batrachomyomachia on 
papyrus was a gift of equal value with the Llad on vellum. 

© Eusebius, Vit. Consiant., iv. 36. 


38 Palxography. 


Acacius dehine et Euzcins, ejusdem ecclesiz sacerdotes, 
in membranis instaurare conati sunt.” 

As to the character and appearance of vellum at 
different periods, it will be enough to state generally 
that in the most ancient MSS. a thin, delicate material 
may usually be looked for, firm and crisp, with a smooth 
and glossy surface. This is generally the character of 
vellum of the fifth and sixth centuries. Later than this 
period, as a rule, it does not appear to have been so care- 
fully prepared; probably, as the demand increased, a 
ereater amount of inferior material came into the market.’ 
But the manufacture would naturally vary in different 
countries. In Ireland and England the early MSS. are 
generally on stouter vellum than their contemporaries 
abroad. In Italy a highly polished surface seems at 
most periods to have been in favour; hence in this coun- 
try and neighbouring districts, as the South of France, 
and again in Greece, the hard material resisted absorp- 
tion, and it is often found that both ink and paint have 
flaked off in MSS. of the middle ages. In contrast to 
this are the instances of soft vellum, used in England 
and France and in northern Europe generally, from 
the thirteenth to the fifteenth century, for MSS. of 
the better class. In the fifteenth century the Italian 
vellum of the Renaissance is often of extreme whiteness 
and purity. Uterine vellum, taken from the unborn 
young, or the skins of new-born animals were used for 
special purposes. A good example of this very delicate 
material is found in Add. MS. 23,935, in the British 
Museum, a volume containing in as many as 579 leaves 
a corpus of liturgical church service books, written im 
France in the 13th and 14th centuries. 

Vellum was also of great service in the ornamentation 
of books. Its smooth surfaces showed off colours in all 
their brilliancy. Martial’s vellum MS. of Virgil (xiv. 186) 
is adorned with the portrait of the author: “ Ipsius 


7 Instances, in MSS. of the seventh and tenth centuries, of 
vellum which was too thin or badly prepared, and therefore left 
blank by the scribes, are noticed in Cat. of Anc. MSS. in the 
Brit. Museum, Pt. 11. 51; and in Delisle, Mé/anges, p. 101. 


Materials used to recetve Writing. 39 


voltus prima tabella gerit.” Isidore, Orig. vi. 11, 4, 
describing this material, uses the words: “ Membrana 
autem aut candida aut lutea aut purpurea sunt. Can- 
dida naturaliter existunt. Luteum membranum bicolor 
est, quod a confectore una tingitur parte, id est, crocatur. 
Dé quo Persius (iii. 10), ‘Jam liber et positis bicolor 
membrana capillis.’” This quotation from Persius refers 
to the vellam wrapper which the Romans were in the 
habit of attaching to the papyrus roll: the φαινόλης, 
penula, literally a travelling cloak. The vellum was well 
suited, from its superior strength, to resist constant 
handling. It was coloured of some brilliant hue, generally 
scarlet or purple, as in Lucian ὃ: “ πορφυρᾶ 62 ἔκτοσθεν 
ἡ διφθέρα." Ovid finds a bright colour unsuited to his 
melancholy book, Tirist. I. i. 5: “ Nec te purpureo velent 
vaccinia fuco.” Martial’s libellus, viii. 72, is  nondum 
murice cultus ”; and again he has the passages, 11. 2: 
“et te purpura delicata velet”; and x. 93: “ carmina, 
purpurea sed modo suta toga,” the toga being another 
expression for the wrapper. In Tibullus III. 1. 9, the 
colour is orange: “ Lutea sed niveum involvat mem- 
brana libellum.” The strip of vellum, σίλλυβος (or 
σίττυβος), titulus, index, which was attached to the 
papyrus roll and was inscribed with the title of the work 
therein contained, was also coloured, as appears from 
the passages in Martial, i. 2: ‘‘ Et cocco rubeat super- 
bus index,” and in Ovid, Tvist. I. 1. 7: “ nec titulus minio 
nec cedro charta notetur.” 

We do not know how soon was introduced the extra- 
vagant practice of producing sumptuous volumes written 
in gold or silver upon purple-stained vellum. ‘Towards 
the end of the third century, however, it seems shat such 
MSS. were well known. Theonas, probably bishop of 
Alexandria, writing to the imperial chamberlain Lucian, 
directs him how he may favouranly aispose the emperor 
(Diocletian) towards the Christians, and advises him, in 
regard to the imperial library, to have the books orna- 
mented “non tantum ad superstitios sumptus quantum 


8 Περὶ τῶν ἐπὶ μισθῷ συνόντων, 41, 


40 Paleography. 


ad utile ornamentum: itaque scribi in purpureis mem- 
branis et litteris aureis totos codices, nisi specialiter 
Princeps demandaverit, non effectet.”° It was a sump- 
tuous MS. of this description which Julius Capitolinus, 
early in the fourth century, puts into the possession of 
the younger Maximin: “Cum grammatico daretur, 
quzedam parens sua libros Homericos omnes purpureos 
dedit, aureis litteris scriptos.” Against luxury of this 
nature St. Jerome directed his often-quoted words in his 
preface to the Book of Job: “ Habeant qui volunt 
veteres libros vel in membranis purpureis auro argen- 
toque descriptos vel uncialibus, ut vulgo aiunt, litteris, 
onera Magis exarata quam codices”; and again in his 
Ep. xviii, to Eustochium: “Inficiuntur membrane 
colore purpureo, aurum liquescit in litteras, gemmis 
codices vestiuntur, et nudus ante fores earam [i.e. 
wealthy ladies] Christus emoritur.” 

The art of staining or dyeing vellum with purple or 
similar colour was practised chiefly in Constantinople, 
and also in Rome; but MSS. of this material, either 
entirely or in part, seem to have been produced in most 
of the civilized countries of Europe at least from the 
sixth century, if we may judge from surviving examples 
which, though not numerous, still exist in fair numbers. 
Of these the best known are:—Portion of the Book of 
Genesis, in Greek, in the Imperial Library at Vienna, 
written in silver letters and illustrated with a series of 
coloured drawings of the greatest interest for the history 
of the art of the period; of the 6th century.’ A MS. of 
the Gospels, in Greek, in silver, leaves of which are in the 
British Museum, at Vienna, Rome, and in larger numbers 
at Patmos, whence the others were obtained; also of 
the 6th century.2 The Codex Rossanensis, lately dis- 
covered at Rossano in South Italy, which contains the 


9 D’Achery, Spicileg. xii 549. 

1 See a facsimile of one of the pages in Pal. Soc.i., pl. 178; 
and of one of the paintings in Labarte, Hist. des Arts industr. 
du Moyen Age (1864), album 11., pl. 77. 

2 Edited by Tischendort, Mon. Sacr. Ined.; see also Westwood, 
Palxogr. Sacra Pict., “ Purple Gieek MSS.” 


Materials used to recewwe Writing. 41 


Gospels in Greek, of the 6th century, written also in 
silver and having a series of drawings illustrative of the 
Life of Christ. The Greek Psalter of Ziirich, of the 
7th century, in silver letters.‘ The famous Codex Argen- 
teus of Upsala, containing the Gothic Gospels of Ulfilas’ 
translation, of the 6th century.° The Latin Evangeli- 
arium of Vienna, originally from Naples, of the same 
period, in silver uncials; a single leaf of the MS. being 
in Trinity College, Dublin.® The Latin Psalter of St. 
Germain (who died a.p. 576) at Paris, also in silver 
uncials.’?’ The Metz Evangeliarium at Paris, of the same 
style and period. Of later date are the MSS. which 
were produced in the Carlovingian period, when a 
fresh impetus was given to this kind of ornamental 
luxury. Such are:—The Latin Gospels at Paris, said 
to have been written for Charlemagne by Godescalc 
in letters of gold.® A similar MS. at Vienna. 
The Latin Gospels of the Hamilton collection of MSS. 
lately at Berlin, which appears to have once be- 
longed to our king Henry VIII., is probably also of 
this period.’ And lastly may be mentioned the Latin 
Psalter in the Douce collection in the Bodleian Lib- 
rary, written in golden Caroline minuscules and orna- 
mented with miniatures.” Other specimens of purple 


8 Edited, with outline tracings of the drawings, by von Gebhardt 
and Harnack, Evangeliorum Code» Grecus purpureus Rossa- 
nensis, 1880. 

4 Edited by Tischendorf, Mon. Sacr. Ined. Nova Coll. iv. 

δ᾽ See an autotype in Pal. Soc. i., pl. 118. 

6 Ed. Tischendorf, 1847. A facsimile of the Dublin leaf is in 
Par Palimpsest. Dublin, ed. Abbott, 1880. 

7 Silvestre, Univ. Palzogr. (English ed.), pl. 110. 

8 Westwood, Pal. Sacr. Pict., “ Evangelistarium of Charle- 
magne.” 

9. Denkschrifte der kais. Akad. der Wissensch., xiii. 85. 

1 See ““Die Handschr. der Hamiltonschen Sammlung,” by 
Prof. Wattenbach, in Neues Archiv. viii. 329. Prof. Wattenbach 
would identify this MS. with the famous purple codex “ de auro 
purissimo in membranis depurpuratis coloratis” which Wilfrid, 
archbishop of York, caused to be made and presented to the 
monastery of Ripon in the latter half of the 7th century. 

2 Douce MS. 59. 


43 Palxography. 


MSS. are cited in different paleographical works and 
catalocues,® 

‘The practice of inserting single leaves of purple-stained 
vellum for the ornamentation of MSS. was not uncom- 
mon in the eighth and ninth centuries. A beautiful ex- 
ample is seen in the fragmentary Latin Gospels from 
Canterbury (Brit. Mus., Royal MS. 1. E. vi.), a large folio 
volume, in which there still remain some leaves dyed of 
a rich deep rose colour and decorated with ornamental 
initials and paintings, the remnant of a larger number; 
of the latter part of the 8th century.* But more 
generally, for such partial decoration, the surface of the 
vellum was coloured, sometimes on only one side of the 
leaf, or even on only a part of it, particularly in MSS. 
of French or German origin of the tenth and eleventh 
centuries.” At the period of the Renaissance there was 
some attempt at reviving this style of book ornamentation, 
and single leaves of stained vellum are occasionally found 
in MSS. of the fifteenth century. Other colours, besides 
purple, were also employed; and instances occur in MSS. 
of this late time of leaves painted black to receive 
gold or silver writing. Such examples are, however, to 
be considered merely as curiosities. 

A still more sumptuous mode of decoration than even 
that by purple-staining seems to have been occasionally 
followed. his consisted in gilding the entire surface 
of the vellum. But the expense of such work must have 
been so great that we cannot suppose that more than a 
very few leaves would ever have been thus treated in any 
MS., however important. Fragments of two vellum 
leaves, thus gilt and adorned with painted designs, are 
preserved in the British Museum, Add. MS, 5111. They 
originally formed part of Greek tables of the Eusebian 

3 See references in Wattenhach, Schriftw. 110-113. 

4 Cat. of Ancient MSS. in the Br. Mus , Pt. ii. (1834) 20; West- 
wood, Pal. Sacr. Pict., and Faes. of Miniatures and Ornaments 
of A.-Saxon and Irish MSS. pll. 14, 15. 

5 An instance of this superficial colouring occurs in a page of 
the Cotton MS. Vesp. A. viil., the foundation charter of New- 


minster, Winchester, a.D. 966. The Harley MS. 2821, written in 
Germany in the 11th century, contains many leaves of this kind. 


Materials used to receive Writing. 43 


Canons, no doubt prefixed toa copy of the Gospels, of 
the 6th ceutury.® 


Paper. 


Paper, manufactured from fibrous substances, appears 
to have been known to the Chinese at a most remote 
period, Its introduction into Europe is due to the 
agency of the Arabs, who are said to have first learnt its 
use at Samarkand, which they captured ap. 704. Its 
manufacture spread through their empire ; and it received 
one of its medieval titles, charta Damascena, from the 
fact of Damascus being one of the centres of paper 
commerce. A comparatively large number of early 
Arabic MSS. on paper still exist, dating fiom the ninth 
century ; the earliest is of the year 866.’ 

This oriental paper, becoming known in Europe at a 
time when the Egyptian papyrus, although not in actual 
common use, still was not yet forgotten, was called by 
the same names, charta and papyrus. It wasalso known 
in the middle ages as charta bombycina, gossypina, 
cutturea, Damascena, and aylina, and in Greek as 
ξυλοχάρτιον or ξυλότευκτον. It has in recent times also 
been generally known as cotton-paper, that is, paper 
made from the wool of the cotton plant. It is usually 
stout, of a yellowish tinge, and with a glossy surface. 
This last quality seems to have gained for it one of its 
titles, charta serica. Imported through Greece into 
Europe, it is referred to by Theophilus, a writer of the 
twelfth century (Schedula diversarum artium,’ 1. 24) as 
Greek parchment, pergamena Greca ; and he adds, “ que 
fit ex lana ligni.” But it does not appear to have been 
used to any great extent even in Greece before the 
middle of the thirteenth century, if one may judge from 
the very few extant Greek MSS. on paper of that time. 

Paper-making in Europe was first established by the 
Moors in Spain and by the Arabs in Sicily; and their 


5 Cat. Anc. MSS. Pt. i. (1881) 21. 

7 See facsimiles of several in the Oriental Series of the Palxo- 
graphical Society. 

8 Ed. R. Hendrie, 1847, p. 28. 


44 Paleography. 


paper was at first still the same oriental paper above 
described. In Spain it was called: pergumeno de panno, 
cloth parchment, a title which distinguished it from 


the pergameno de cuero, or vellum; and it is so de- 


scribed in the laws of Alphonso, of 1263. On the 
expulsion of the Moors, an inferior quality was produced 
by the less skilled Christians. From Sicily the manu- 
facture passed over into Italy. 

Here we must pause a moment to revert to the ques- 
tion of the material of which oriental paper was made. 
As already stated, its early Huropean names point to the 
general idea that it was made of cotton. But recent 
investigations have thrown doubts on the accuracy of this 
view ; and a careful analysis of many early samples has 
proved that, although cotton was occasionally used, no 
paper that has been examined is entirely made of that 
substance, hemp or flax being the more usual material.” 
An ingenious solution of this difficulty has been recently 
offered, that the term χάρτης βομβύκινος, charta bomby- 
cina, iS nothing more than an erroneous reading of 
χάρτης βαμβύκινος, charta bambycina, that is, paper 
made in the Syrian town of Bambyce, Βαμβύκη, the Arab 
Mambidsch.’ The question of material is not, however, of 
any particular importance for our present purpose ; and it 
is only the distinction which has been made between orien- 
tal paper and European paper, as being the one of cotton 
and the other of linen rag, that requires it to benoticed. A 
more satisfactory means cf distinguishing the two kinds 
of paper is afforded by the employment of water-marks in 
European paper, a practice which was unknown to the 
oriental manutacturer, 

Several examples survive of oriental paper, or paper 


lungen (ut supr.) bd. iv. 117. 


Materials used to receive Writing. 45 


made in the oriental fashion, used for European docu- 
ments and MSS. The oldest recorded document was a 
deed of King Roger of Sicily of the year 1102, and 
others of other Sicilian kings of the 12th century are 
also mentioned. At Genoa there are extant letters of 
Greek emperors, of 1188-]202. The oldest known imperial 
deed is a charter of Frederic II. to the nuns of Goess, in 
Styria, of 1228.2 The same emperor forbade, in 1231, 
the use of paper for public deeds. A Visigothic paper 
MS. of the 12th century, from Silos, near Burgos, is 
now in the Bibliothéque Nationale of Paris (Nouv. Acq. 
Lat. 1296);* a paper notarial register at Genoa dates 
from 1154; in the British Museum there is a paper MS. 
(Arundel 268), written in Italy, of the first half of the 
13th century; and at Munich the autograph MS. of 
Albert de Beham, 1238-1255, is also on the same kind 
of paper. In several cities and towns of Italy there 
exist registers on paper dating back to the thirteenth 
century.* Letters addressed from Castile to Edward I. 
of England, in 1279 and following years, are on the same 
material; and a register of the hustings court of Lyme 
Regis, now in the British Museum, which begins with 
entries of the year 1509, ison paper which was pro- 
bably imported from Spain or Bordeaux, such as that 
employed for the Bordeanx customs register of the be- 
ginning of the reign of Kdward Li., now in the Record 
Office.° 

The earliest reference to the material of paper made 
in Europe appears to be that in the tract of Peter, abbot 
of Cluny (a.p. 1122-1150), “adversus Judzos,” cap. 5, 
in which among the various kinds of books he mentions 
those made ex rasuris veterum pannorum.’ ‘here appears 

2 J. G. Schwandner, Charta Linea, 1788. 

3 Delisle, Wélanges, 109. 

4 Cited by Professor Paoli, [a Storia della Carta secondo gli 
ultimi studi, in Nuova Antologia, vol. xviii. (1888), p. 297. 

5 See also Rogers, Hist. Agricult. and Prices, i, 644. 

§ “Quales quotidie in usu legendi habemus, utique ex pellnra 
arietum, hircorum, vel vitulorum, sive ex biblis vel juncis orien- 


talium paludum, aut ex rasuris veterum pannorum, seu ex qualibet 
alia forte viliore materia compactos.” 


45 Paleography. 


to have certainly been an extensive manufacture in Italy 
in the first half of the thirteenth century. There is 
evidence of a paper trade at Genoa as early as 1285.7 But 
the place from which we have the earliest known water- 
mark, on paper which was used in 1293, is Fabriano, in 
the marquisate of Ancona, where the industry was 
established certainly before the year 1276, and probably 
much earlier. The jurist Bartolo, in his treatise De 
insigniis et armis, mentions the excellent paper made 
there in the fourteenth century. Other centres of early 
manufacture were Colle, in Tuscany, Padua, where a 
factory was established at least as early as 1840, Treviso, 
Venice, Pignerol and Casella in Piedmont, Florence, 
Bologna, Parma, Milan, and other places. From the 
northern towns of Italy a trade was carried on with 
Germany, where also factories were rapidly founded in 
the fourteenth century. France borrowed the art of 
paper-making from Spain, whence it was introduced, it 
is said, as early as 1189, into the district of Hérault. 
The north of Europe, at first supplied from the 
south, gradually took up the manufacture. England 
drew her supplies, no doubt, at first from such trading 
ports as Bordeaux and Genoa; but even in the fourteenth 
century it is not improbable that she had a rough home- 
manufacture of her own, although it is said that the 
first English mill was set up in Hertford not earlier than 
the sixteenth century. 

Paper was in fairly general use throughout Europe ia 
the second half of the fourteenth century ; at that time it 
began to rival vellum as a material for books; in the 
course of the fifteenth century it gradually superseded 
it. MSS. of this later period are sometimes composed of 
both vellum and paper, a sheet of vellum forming the 
outer leaves of a quire, the rest being of paper: arevival 
of the old practice observed in certain papyrus books in 
which vellum leaves protected and gave strength to the 
leaves of papyrus. 

A knowledge of the appearance of paper and of water- 

7 Briquet, Papiers et Filigranes des Archives de Gines, 1888, 
p- 6. 


Materials used to recewe Writing. 47 


marks of different periods is of great assistance in as- 
signing dates to undated paper MSS. In the fourteenth 
century European paper is usually stout, and was made 
in frames composed of thick wires which have left 
strongly defined impressions. In the next century the 
texture becomes finer. ‘The earliest known water-mark, 
as already stated, is on paper used in the year 1293, At 
first the marks are simple, and being impressed from 
thick wires are well defined. In process of time they 
become finer and more elaborate, and, particularly in 
Italian paper, they are enclosed within circles. Their 
varicty is almost endless: animals, heads, birds, fishes, 
flowers, fruits, domestic and warlike implements, letters, 
armorial bearings, and other devices are used; some 
being peculiar to a country or district, others apparently 
becoming favourites and lasting for comparatively long 
periods, but constantly changing in details, Forexample, 
the glove, a common mark of the sixteenth century de- 
velops a number of small modifications in its progress ; 
and of the pot or tankard, which runs through the 
latter part of the sixteenth century and the early part 
of the seventeenth century, there is an extraordinary 
number of different varieties. ‘The namesof makers were 
inserted as water-marks quite at the beginning of the 
fourteenth century; but this practice was very soon 
abandoned, and was not revived until after the middle of 
the sixteenth century. ‘he insertion of the name of 
place of manufacture and of the date of wanutacture 
is a modern usage. 


CHAPTER IV. 
WRITING IMPLEMENTS, ETC. 


The Stilus, Pen, ete. 


Or writing implements the στῦλος, γραφεῖον, ypadis, 
γραφίδιον, stilus, graphium, made of iron, bronze, or 
other metal, ivory, or bone, was adapted for writing on 
waxen tablets, the letters being scratched with the sharp 
point. ‘The other end was fashioned into a knob or flat 
head, wherewith the writing could be obliterated by 
smoothening the wax, for correction or erasure: hence 
the phrase verfere stilum,’ “to correct.” Among the 
Roman antiquities found in Britain, now deposited in the 
British Museum, there are several specimens of the stilus, 
in ivory, bronze, etc. Many of them are furnished with 
a sharp projection, at right angles to the shaft, near the 
head, for the purpose of ruling lines on the wax. The 
passage in Ovid, Metam. ix. 521, thus describes the action 
of the writer :— 
* Dextra tenet ferrum, vacuam tenet altera ceram. 
Incipit, et dubitat, scribit damnatque tabellas. 
Et notat et delet, mutat, culpatque probatque.” 
Here the stilus is simply ferrum. In another place, 
Amor. I. xi. 23, Ovid gives its title of graphium: “ Quid 
digitos opus est graphio lassare tenendo ?” 
‘his riddle on the stilus also occurs :— 
“ De summo planus, sed non ego planus in imo, 


Versor utrimque manu; diversa et munera fungors: 
Altera pars revocat quidquid pars altera fecit.” ? 


The case in which such implements were kept was the 


1 Horace, Sat. I. x. 72: “ Sene stilum vertas.” 
2 Riese, Anthol. Lat. I. no. Ζεῦ. 


Writing Iniplements, ete. 49 


γραφιοθήκη, graphiarium ; as in Martial, xiv. 21, “armata 
suo graphiaria ferro.” 

For writing on papyrus the reed, κάλαμος, δόναξ 

γραφεύς, σχοῖνος, calamus, canna, was in use.* Suitable 
_ reeds came chiefly from Egypt, as referred to by Martial, 
xiv. 38 : “ Dat chartis habiles calamos Memphitica tellus ”; 
or from Cnidus, as in Ausonius, Mp. vi.: ‘‘ Nec jam fissi- 
pedis per calami vias Grassetur Cnidize sulcus arundinis.” 
Parallel with our use of steel pens is that of the ancient 
metal reeds, of which a few specimens, in bronze, have 
been found in Italy, and one in England.* The case in 
which reeds were kept was the καλαμοθήκη, καλαμίς, 
calamarium, theca calamaria; as in Martial, xiv. 19: 
“ Sortitus thecam, calamis armare memento.” In Diocle- 
tian’s edict, De pretiis rerum venalium, the reed-case 
appears as made of leather. 

Reeds continued in use to some extent through the 
middle ages. In Italy they appear to have survived 
into the fifteenth century.® 

The κονδίλιον, peniculus, penicillus, was the brush with 
which writing in gold was applied.° 

The pen, penna, is first mentioned by an anonymous 
historian who tells us that, to enable the unlettered Ostro- 
goth Theodoric to write his name, he was provided with 
a stencil plate, through which he drew with a pen the 
strokes which formed the first four letters of his name: 
“ut, posita lamina super chartam, per eam penna duceret 
et subscriptio ejus tantum videretur.”’ Isidore, Orig. vi. 
13, describes the pen thus: “ Jnstrumenta scribe calamus 


* Pliny, Nat. Hist. xvi. 36: “Chartisque serviuut calami.” 
Some specimens of ancient reeds cut like a pen (Ausonius, 
“fissipes calamus”) are in the Egyptian gallery, British 
Museum. 

4 See Bulletino dell’ Instituto, 1849, p. 169; 1880, pp. 68, 69, 
150. The onefoundin England is preserved among the Romano- 
British antiquities in the British Museum. 

* For detailed information, see Wattenbach, Schrif/w. 186. 

6 Theophilus, De diversis arlibus, 111. 96, mentions the reed for 
this purpose: “‘ Atque rogo pariter, calamo cum ceperit aurum, 
Illum commoveat, pulchre si scribere querit.” 

7 In the Eaverpta printed at the end of Gronovius’s edition of 
Ammianus Marcellinns, 1693, p. 512. 


~ 
“7 


50 Palxography. 


et penna. Ex his enim verba paginis infiguntur ; sed cala- 
mus arboris est, penna avis, cujus acumen dividitur in 
duo, in toto corpore unitate servata.’””? But, although no 
earlier mention of the quill pen than these has been 
found, it can scarcely be supposed that, as soon as 
vellum came into general use, so obviously convenient an 
implement, always ready to hand, could have been long 
overlooked, particularly in places where reeds of a kind 
suitable for writing could not be had. The hard surface 
of the new material could bear the flexible pressure of 
the pen which in heavy strokes might have proved too 
much for the more fragile papyrus. 


Inks, ete. 


Black ink, the ordinary writing fluid of centuries, 
μέλαν, or more exactly γραφικὸν μέλαν, μελάνιον, atra- 
mentum, or atramentum librartum to distinguish it from 
blacking used for other purposes, later ἔγκαυστον, imcaus- 
tum, differs in tint at various periods and in different 
countries, In early MSS. it is either pure black or 
slightly brown; in the middle ages it varies a good deal 
according to age and locality. In Italy and Southern 
Europe it is generally blacker than in the north, in 
France and Flanders it is generally darker than in 
England; a Spanish MS. of the 14th or 15th century 
may usually be recognized by the peculiar blackness 
of the ink. Deterioration is observable in the course 
of time. The ink of the fifteenth century particularly 
is often of a faded, grey colour. 

The ancients used the liquid of the cuttle fish, asin the 
lines of Persius, ii, 12 :-— 

“Tune queritur crassus calamo quod pendeat humor, 


Nigra quod infusa vanescat sepia lympha, 
Dilutas queritur geminet quod fistula guttas.” 


Pliny, Nat. Hist. xxxv. 6, mentions soot and gum as the 
ingredients of writing ink, Other later authors add 
gall-apples. Metallic infusions seem also to have been 
used at an early period, In the midde ages vitriol was 
an ordinary ingredient. Theophilus, in his work De 


Writing Iniplements, ete. 51 


diversts artihus, written probably early in the twelfth 
century, gives a recipe (i. 40) for the manufacture of 
ink from thorn wood boiled down and mingled with 
wine and vitriol. 

Inks of other colours are also found in MSS. of the 
middle ages: green, yellow, and others, but generally 
only for ornamental purposes, although volumes written 
entirely in coloured ink are still extant. IKed, either in 
the form of a pigment or fluid ink, is of very ancient and 
common use. It is seen on the early Egyptian papyri; 
and it appears in the earliest extant vellum MSS., either 
in titles or the first lines of columns or chapters. The 
Greek term was μελάνιον κόκκινον; Latin minium, rubrica, 
A volume written entirely in red ink, of the 9th or 10th 
century, is in the British Museum, Harley MS. 2795. 
The purple ink, cwvaBapis, sacrum incaustum, reserved 
at Byzantium for the exclusive use of the emperors, 
seems to have originally been of a distinct kind. Later 
the same term, κιννάβαρις, appears as ἃ Synonymous 
term with minium. 

The ink-pot, μελανδόχον, μελανδόχη, μελανδοχεῖον, atra- 
mentaritum, used by the ancients, was generally, as 
appears from surviving examples, a small cylindrical 
jar or metal box, the cover often pierced with a hole to 
admit the insertion of the reed. In paintings on the 
walls of Pompeii double ink-pots, with hinged covers, are 
depicted, the two receptacles being probably for black 
and red ink. Throughout the middle ages the ink- 
horn was in common use. 

Gold was used as a writing fluid at a very early 
period. In a papyrus at Leyden, of the third or 
fourth century, there is a recipe for its manufacture.® 
Something has already been said on its use in con- 
nection with purple-stained vellum. Ordinary white 
vellum MSS. were also written in gold, particularly in 
the ninth and tenth centuries, in the reigns of the 
Carlovingian kings. In most of the large national 


8 Museo Borbonico, i. pl. 12. δ f 
9 Leemans, Papyri Greci Mus. Lugd. Bat., tom. 11, (1889) 
p- 218. 


εἴ ..} _ = J =. —— “ἢ oe σὰ ΡΟ. = 
: ΓΑ 9 Aes ν: 


52 Ῥαέφοσγαβῤήγ. 


libraries examples are to be found.’ The practice passed 
from the continent to England, and was followed to 
some considerable extent in this country, not only for 
partial decoration, but also for the entire text of MSS. 
The record of a purple MS. written in gold, by order 
of Wilfrid of York, late in the 7th century, has already 
been noticed (p. 41, note 1); but the way in which this — 
volume is referred to: “ Inauditum ante seculis nostris 
quoddam miraculam ” proves that such sumptuous MSS. 
were not known in England before that time. St. 
Boniface, writing in A.D. 785 to Eadburg, abbess of St. 
Mildred’s, Thanet, asks her to get transcribed for him in 
gold the Ipistles of St. Peter.? But the existing English 
examples are of later date.* Gold writing as a practice 
died out in the thirteenth century, although afew isolated 
instances of later date are found. State letters of the 
Byzantine emperors were also sometimes written in 
gold, and the same was used for imperial charters in 
Germany, as appears from extant examples of the 
twelfth century, and for similar documents in other 
countries.* 

Writing in silver appears to have ceased contempora- 
neously with the disuse of stained vellum. This metal 
would not show to advantage on a white ground, 


1 Such MSS. in the British Museum are Harl. MS. 2788, the 
“Codex Aureus,” a copy of the Gospels, in: uncial letters, of the 
9th century; Harl. MS. 2797, also a copy of the Gospels, in 
minuscule writing, late in the 9th century, from the monastery of 
St. Genevieve, Paris. The Cottonian MS., Tiberius A. ii., which 
was sent as a present to king Aithelstan by the emperor Otho, 
also contains some leaves written in gold. 

2 “Sic et adhuc deprecor.... ut mihi cum auro conscribas 
epistolas domini mei Sancti Petri apostoli, ad honorem et 
reverentiam sanctarum scripturarum ante ocules carnalium in 
preedicando, et quia dicta ejus qui me in hoc iter direxit maxime 
semper in presentia cupiam habere.”—Jaffé, Monumenta Mogun- 
tina, ii. 99, 

3 The foundation charter of Newminster, Winchester, granted 
by king Edgar in 966, in Cotton. MS. Vesp. A. vili., is written 
in gold. The Benedictional of Aithe! wold, bishop of Winchester, 
A.D. 963-984, also contains a page in gold. 

4 Wattenbach, Schriftw. 214-217. 


ΓΑ ΘΝ, ξεν: 


Writing Implements, ete. 53 


Various Implements. 


For ruling papyri, a circular plate of lead, Πρ κ ἐμὴν 
μόλιβος, τροχόεις μόλιβδος, κυκλομόλιβδος, was used. Ink 
was removed with the sponge. Papyrus would scarcely 
bear scraping with the knife. If the ink was still wet, 
or lately applied, its removal was of course easy. Martial, 
iv. 10, sends a sponge with his newly-written book of 
poems, wherewith the whole of his verses might be 
cleaned off.” Augustus effaced his half-completed 
tragedy of Ajax, with the remark: “ Ajacem suum in 
spongiam incubuisse.”® With vellum MSS. the knife or 
eraser, rasorium or novacula, came into use. While 
wet the ink could still be sponged away; but when it 
was hard and dry, and for erasure of single letters aud 
words without obliterating also the surrounding text, it 
was scraped off. 

The penknife was the σμίλη, yAvdavov, yAuTTHO, ΟΥ̓ 
γλυφίς, scalprum librarium, the medieval scalpellum, 
cultellus, or artavus; the ruler was the κανών, canon, 
norma, regula, linearium ; the pricker or compass for 
spacing off the ruled lines was διαβάτης, circinus, or 
punctorium ; and lastly, the office of the modern pencil 
was performed by the pointed piece of lead, μόλυβδος, 
plumbum, or plummet. 


“Dum novus est rasa nee adhue mihi fronte libellas, 

Pagina dom tangi non bene sicca timet, 

I, puer, et caro perfer leve munus amico, 
Qui meruit nugas primus habere meas. 

Curre, sed instructus : comitetur Punica librum 
Spongia; muneribus convenit illa meis. 
on possunt nostros multz, Faustine, liture 
Emendare jocos; una litura potest.” 

® Suetonius, Aug. 85, 


CHAPTER V. 
FORMS OF BOOKS. 


The Roll. 


Amsone the Greeks the ordinary terms for a book (that 
is, a roll) were βίβλος and its diminutive βιβλίον." 
Harlier forms of these words were βύβλος and, more 
rarely, βυβλίον, which were clearly derived from the 
material, the βύβλος or papyrus, of which books were 
made, ‘The corresponding word lber of the Latin 
people, in like manner, was adopted as a term for a 
book, primitively made of the bark or inner rind of the 
lime or other tree. Such bark-books, however, dis- 
appeared in presence of the more convenient and more 
plentiful papyrus imported from Egypt; but the old 
name was not unfitly transferred to a book made of the 
new substance, which in texture and general appear- 
ance was not unlike the old. 

A diminutive of the word liber was Iibellus, which, as 
a literary title, specially referred to a book of poems, a 
sense in which it is constantly used by the Roman poets. 
It came at length to be used as an equivalent of liber, 
and to express ἃ book in general. 

The old form of a book was the roll, the Latin 
volumen. The Greeks do not appear to have had any 
parallel expression at an early date; the word κύλινδρος 
being comparatively late. Another term was ἐνείλημα 


1 βιβλίον also meant a letter, and is used in this sense by 
Herodotus. Suidas in his Lexicon explains βιβλίον as ἐπιστολή. 

2 For instances of cunfusion of material, see Wattenbach, 
Sclriftw. 89. 


Forints of Books. 55 


cr ἐξείλημα; more rare were εἰλητάριον, εἵλητον, A 
medieval Latin term is rotulus. 

Again, a later Greek term was τόμος (originally a 
cutting of papyrus), applicable to a roll containing a 
portion of a collection or of a great work. Neither 
this term nor βιβλίον, nor liber nor libellus, could be 
applied in the singular number to more than a single 
roll or volume. A work consisting of many volumes, or 
several divisions, must be described by the plural forms 
βιβλία, τόμοι, libri, ete. On the other hand, the several 
books of a work, if written on one roll, counted only for 
one βιβλίον or liber, Thus Ulpian, Digest. xxxii. 52, 
lays down: ‘Si cui centum libri sint legati, centum 
volumina ei dabimus, non centum que quis Ingenio suo 
metitus est. . . . ut puta, cum haberet Homerum totum 
in uno volumine, non quadraginta octo libros com- 
putamus, sed unum Homeri volumen pro libro acci- 
piendum est.” 

For subdivisions such terms as λόγος, σύγγραμμα, σύν- 
ταΎμα also were used, 

The word τεῦχος, in the sense of a literary work in 
several volumes, was employed at a late period. Originally 
it seems to have been applied to the chest or vessel in 
which the several rolls of such work were kept, and came 
in course of time to refer to the contents.* Xenophon, 
Anab. vi. 6, 14, mentions books ἐν ξυλίνοις τεύχεσι. 
In like manner the terms pandeetes and bibliotheca, 
originally referring to a work in several rolls kept 
together in their chest, were afterwards used specially to 
mean a MS. of the entire Bible.* Bibliotheca continued 
to bear this meaning down to the close of the fourteenth 
century, if not later.’ 

To distinguish a work contained in the compass of a 
single roll, there was the title μονόβιβλος or μονόβιβλον. 

There can be no doubt that the convenience of sub- 
dividing the lengthy works of authors into rolls of 


3 Birt, Ant. Buchw. 89. 

4 Bibliotheca was used in this sense by St. Jerome. Others, 
as Cassiodorus, Bede, Alcuin, preferred Pandectes. 

* See examples in Wattenbach, Schriftw. 126-129. 


vy 


56 Paleography. 


moderate size must have been appreciated in the earliest 


period of the publication of Greek literature; and, although 
the authors themselves may not originally have divided 
their writings into separate portions to suit the ordinary 
length of a conveniently-sized roll, yet the practice of 
the scribe would eventually react on the author. Thus 
we find the works of Homer divided into books of a 
Jength which could be contained in an ordinary roll; and 
we know that in course of time authors did regularly 
adapt the divisions of their works to the custcmary length 
of the βιβλία and volumina. 

The roll was rolled on a stick, dudados or wm- 
bilicus, to which the last sheet of the papyrus, éoyato- 
κόλλιον, was attached. Many of the rolls found at Her- 
culaneum had a mere central core of papyrus. A knob 
or button, usually of bone or wood, was affixed to each 
end of the stick, the name of which, ὀμφαλός, umbilicus, 
appears to have been also extended to these orna- 
mental additions. Porphyrion, commenting on Horace, 
Epod. xiv. 8, says: “in fine libri umbilici1 ex ligno aut 
osse solent poni.” Or, instead of the simple knob or 
button, there was a tip, κέρας, cornu, of ivory or some 
such ornamental material; and either might be plain or 
coloured. The edges, frontes, of the roll were cut down 
and smoothed with pumice,’ and sometimes coloured. 
‘Lhe wrapper of an ordinary roll might be of common 
papyrus, charta emporetica; in case of a more valuable 
work, a vellum cover, stained with colour,® was used as 
a protection—the φαινόλης or φαιλόνης, pxnula (the 
travelling cloak), as it was commonly ecalled.? Lucian, 
Adv. indoctum, 7, refers to an ornamental work thus: 


6 Tibullus, IIT. i, 18: “ Atque inter geminas pingantur cornua 
frontes.” Martial, iii, 2, 9, “ picti umbilici”; v. 6, 1, “‘ nigri 
umbilici.” 

7 Ovid, Trist. I. i. 11, “Nec fragili gemine poliantur pumice 
frontes”’; Catullus, xxii. 8, “‘ pamice omnia equata,” 

8 See above, p. 39. 

9 The “ cloak” (φαιλόνης) which St. Paul left at Troas (2 Tim. 
iv. 19), and which ‘{imothy was to bring together with the books 
and parchments, may have been in tuct a buok-cover. See Birt, 
6d. 


ee eee DS! OE, ee Se 


Forms of Books. 57 


“6rdrav τὸ μὲν βιβλίον ἐν τῇ χειρὶ ἔχης παγκαλον, 
πορφυρᾶν μὲν ἔχον τὴν διφθέραν, χρυσοῦν δὲ τὸν ὀμφαλόν "; 
and Martial, i. 66, has the lines :-ττ 

* Sed pumicata fronte si quis est nondum 


Nec umbilicis cultus atque membrana, 
Mercare: tales habeo.” 


For preservation against moths, etc., cedar oil was 
rubbed on the papyrus.’ A good poem was worthy of 
this protection: ‘‘ cedro digna locutus” (Persius, 1. 42) ; 
“cedro nunc licet ambules perunctus” (Martial, ii1. 2, 7). 
But it imparted a yellow tint: “ quod neque sum cedro 
flavus ” (Ovid, Tr/st. 111. i. 13). 

‘ke chest or box in which the rolls were kept was the 
κίστη, κιβωτός, cupsa, cista, forulus, nidus, puteus, or 
serinium, To tie bundles of rolls together was a 
destructive process, as the papyrus was injured; so 
Petronius, Satyricon, cii. : “ Charte alligatze mutant figu- 
ram.” Extensive works were arranged in their capsx 
in decades, triads, or other sets,as we know from the 
examples of the works of Livy, Dio Cassius, Varro, and 
others. 

For convenience of reference when the roll was placed 
in a box or on a shelf, a vellum label, σίλλυβος or σίττυ- 
Bos,? πιττάκιον, also γλῶσσα, γλωσσάριον, titulus, index, 
was attached to the edge of the roll and inscribed with 
the title of the work,’® and, for distinction, was also 
coloured.* Such tituli are perhaps the “lora rubra”’ of 
Catullus, xxii. 7. Cicero, writing to Atticus, iv. 4, gives 
both Greek and Latin names: “ Etiam velim mihi mittas 
de tuis librariolis duos aliquos, quibus 'l'yrannio utatur 


1 «¢ Ex cedro oleum, quod cedreum dicitur, nascitur, quo reliquee 
res unctz, uti etiam libri, a tineis et carie non laduntur.’”— 
Vitruvius, 11. 9, 13. 

* Marquardt, Privatl. der Rimer, 794. 

3 See an engraving, copied fiom a sculpture, in Schwarz, De 
ornamentis librorwm (1756), tab. 11., wherein are represented series 
of rolls placed on shelves, like bottles in a wine-bin, with the titwli 
depending in front; also an engraving of a capsa, with rolls 
enclosed, on the title-page of Muariml, Pupiri Diplom.; and 
Museo Borbonico, tav. xii. 

* See above, p. 39. 


53 ῥαϊαοργαῤήγ. 


glutinatoribus, ad cetera administris, jisque imperes nt 
sumant membranulam, ex qua indices fiant, quos vos 
Greeci, ut opinor, σιλλύβους appellatis.”’ And the lines 
of Tibullus, III. i. 9, may be quoted as describing the 
outward appearance of the roll ;— 


* Lutea sed niveum involvat membrana libellum, 
Pumex cui cinas tondeat ante comas; 
Summaque pretexat tenuis fastigia chartx, 
Indicet ut nomen, littera facta, puer.” 


The text was written in columns, oedides, paginas. 
The term σελίς (originally the gangway between the 
rowing benches of a ship) was first applied to the space 
between two columns, and then to the column itself. 
Other terms were the diminutive σελίδιον and κατα- 
βατόν. The lives of the columns ran parallel with the 
length of the roll;° and lead was used for drawing the 
ruled lines. Such ruling, however, was not always, and 
perhaps not generally, employed, for the horizontal fibre 
of the papyrus itself was a sufficient guide for the lines 
of writing; and the fact that the marginal line of the 
columns frequently trends away out of the perpendicular 
proves that in such instances there were no ruled lines 
to bound the columns laterally. These were generally 
narrow, at least in the texts which were written by 
skilled scribes for the market; and occasionally we find 
the letters made smaller at the end of a line in order to 
accommodate words to the available space. An example 
of writing m wide columns is seen in the papyrus of 
Aristotle on the Constitution of Athens—a MS. which 
was written for private use and not for sale. 

The title of the work was written at the end. 

The reader unrolled the book with the right hand; 
with the left hand he rolled up what he had read.’ To 
unroll a book was ἐξειλεῖν, ἀνειλεῖν, ἀνελίσσειν, ἐλίσσειν, 


5. Before the time of Julius Cesar, official despatches appear to 
have been written “transversé charta,” that is, with the lines 
parallel with the breadth of the roll. Suetonius, Jul. Cees. 56. 

6 See an engraving, trom a sculptured sarcophagus, in Darem- 
berg and Saglio’s Dict. des Antiquites, 5. ν. ‘“ Bibliotheca,” in 
which a man is represented reading from an open roll. 


“Ὁ - ~~ 


forms of Books. 59 


εἴλειν or εἰλεῖν, evolvere, revolvere, volvere, explicare. 
The book read to the end was “explicitus usque ad sua 
cornua” (Martial, xi. 107), or “ad umbilicum,” as in 
Horace, [pod. xiv. 8 :— 

* Deus nam me vetat 


‘Inceptos, olim promissum carmen, iambos 
Ad umbilicum adducere;”’ 


and in Martial, iv. 89 :— 


** Ohe, jam satis est, ohe libelle, 
Jam pervenimus usque ad umbilicos.” 


From the term “ explicitus”” came the medieval “ ex- 
plicit,’ formed, no doubt, as a pendant to “incipit.” 
The term to roll up a book was plicare. The beginning 
of the roll was held under the chin while the hands were 
employed in turning the wmbiiici. Hence Martial, 1. 
66, refers to “virginis.... chartz, que trita duro 
non inhorruit mento”; and again, x. 93, he has: “ Sic 
nova nec mento sordida charta juvat.”’ 

The inconvenience of writing on the back of the roll is 
obvious, and this practice was probably very seldom, if 
ever, followed in the case of works intended for gale. 
Authors’ copies, however, were often opisthograph, as in 
Juvenal, Sut. 1. 4:— 

“Tmpune diem consumpserit ingens 


Telephus, aut sumimi plena jam margine libri 
Scriptus et in tergo necdum finitus Orestes P” 


The younger Pliny also, Zpist. iii. 5, 17, in reference 
to his uncle’s numerous works, uses the words: “Com- 
mentarios clx. mihi reliquit, opisthographos quidem et 


‘minutissime scriptos.” 


In the same manner worthless scribbling is referred 
to by Martial, viii. 62, as written on the back of the 
charta ;— 


“ Scribit in aversa Picens epigrammata charta 
Et dolet, averso quod facit illa deo.” 


Rough draughts or temporary pieces, or children’s or 
scholars’ exercises might also be so written, Martial, 
iv. 86, threatens his /ibellus with the fate of waste paper 


60 Palxography. 


to be utilized for such purposes, if his verses fail to 
please :— 
* Si damnaverit, ad salariorum 
Curras scrinia protinus licebit, 
Inversa pueris arande charta.” 

A most important instance of a scholar’s exercise, 
written on the back of a papyrus, is found in the early 
copy of the Hpitaphios of Hyperides in the British 
Museum. 

After the establishment of the book-shape in general 
use, the roll form was almost entirely abandoned for 
literary purposes in the middle ages. It survived, how- 
ever, for some of the Greek liturgies, for mortuary rolls, 
for pedigrees, for certain brief chronicles in which his- 
torical genealogies form a principal feature, and in a few 
other instances, as in the “ Exultet” rolls of Italy, in 
which it- was found convenient. But in all these the 
writing was parallel with the breadth, not with the length, 
of the roll. For records, however, the roll form has been 
continued throughout the middle ages to our own days, 
particularly in England, where not oniy public docu- 
ments relating to the business of the country, but also 
proceedings of private manorial courts and_ bailiffs’ 
accounts, were almost invariably entered on rolls. 


The Codex or Book. 


The earliest form of the book, in our modern sense of 
the word, that is, as a collection of leaves of vellum, 
paper, or other material, bound together, existed, as we 
have seen,’ in the case of waxen tablets, when two or 
more were fastened together and made a caudew or codew. 
Hence vellum books, following the same arrangement, 
were also called codices. Similarly, by usage the title 
liber, which had been transferred from the original bark 
roll to the papyrus roll, was also passed on to the vellum 
book. So too the Greek terms βίβλος, βιβλίον and other 
words, which had been employed to designate the earlier 
rolls, were transferred in the same way. The vellum 


7 See above, p. 20. 


ΣΌΝ 


etn ἐν Ὁ a i el ie te ol ee ee 


ν 
~ 


Forms of Books. 61 


codex came into general use when it was found how 
conveniently it could contain a large work in a much 
smaller space than could the papyrus roll. In the words 
of Isidore, Origg. vi. 13, 1: “ Codex multorum librorum 
est, liber unius voluminis.” 

That vellum MSS. existed in the classical period at 
Rome we know from Martial’s Apophoreta. But these 
must have been few in number and articles of luxury. 
It was the requirements of the lawyers which necessi- 
tated the casting of the great law-books into a conve- 
nient form for reference; and the vellum MS., more 
durable than papyrus and adapted for receiving writing 
on both sides of the leaves, satisfied those require- 
ments in the most perfect manner. Hence the term 
σωμάτιον, a name for the vellum MS., expressive of the 
bulk of the contents; and hence, conversely, the title 
of codex which was given to great compilations, such 
as those of Theodosius and Justinian, ~ 

Again, the Bible, the book which before all others 
became the great work of reference in the hands of the 
early Christians, could only be consulted with conveni- 
ence and despatch in the new form. From the writings 
of St. Jerome and others it is evident that Bibles in 
codex form existed at a very early date. When once 
this form of multiplying texts was adopted by the Church, 
its rapid diffusion became a matter of certainty through. 
the medium of monastic institutions. The form adopted 
for the Bible would naturally become the model for 
theological and ecclesiastical books of all kinds, Thus 
the vellum codex was destined to be the recipient of 
Christian literature, as the papyrus roll had been that 
of the pagan world, 

Still, however, for the older literature the papyrus 
continued to some extent to hold its ground;® although 
even in this department the codex began at once to make 
inroads. For, as regards the works of great standard 
authors, such as Homer in Greek and Cicero in Latin, 
there is evidence that even in the earliest centuries of 
our era the codex form wes not uncommon.’ In Sx. 

8 Birt, 109. 9 Thid. 118, 


62 Palzography. 


Jerome’s days vellum MSS. of the classics appear to have 
been in ordinary use, for his library of vellum codices 
included works of profane literature.’ In the end, the 
book form became so general that even papyrus was 
put together in leaves and quires in the same way as 
vellum. Several specimens of such papyrus books still 
exist, as has been already noticed.? 


Gatherings or Quires. 


The earliest MSS. on vellum are usually of the broad 
quarto size, in which the width equals, or nearly equals, 
the height. The quires of which they are composed 
consist, in most instances, of eight leaves, that is, of 
four folded sheets, τετράς or τετράδιον, guaternio (whence 
our word quire), and this number continued in general 
favour for all sizes of volumes throughout the middle 
ages. Quires of three sheets or six leaves, of five sheets 
or ten leaves, and of six sheets or twelve leaves, are also 
met with. For example, the famous Codex Vaticanus 
of the Greek Bible is made up of ten-leaved quires. 
Each quire was actually numbered or signed, to use the 
technical word, either at the beginning, in the upper 
margin, or, more generally at the end, in the lower inner 
corner. In the Codex Alexandrinus the signatures 
are at the beginnings of the quires, in the centre of the 
upper margin. ‘The numbers were frequently, in Latin 
MSS., accompanied with the letter Q (for quaternio). 
The practice of numbering the leaves of the quires, e.g. 
A. i., A. IL, A, Ill., etc., dates from the fourteenth century. 
Catch-words, exclamantes, to connect the quires together, 
first appear, but rarely, in the eleventh century; from 
the twelfth century they become common. 

In putting together the sheets for the quire, care was 
generally taken to lay them in such a way that hair- 
side faced hair-side, and flesh- for inner) side faced 
flesh-side. Thus, when the book was opened, the 
two pages before the reader had the same appearance, 
either the yellow tinge of the hair-side or the whiter 


1 [bid. 115. 2 Above, p. 34. 


“gs ry 


= ει γαν “ 


Ὡ “ὭΣ .. a ΑΔ 


-οὖν 


at 


ἃ. P=. 4 a Κ΄ '—_ = 


Forms of Books. 63 


surface of the flesh-side. In Greek MSS. the arrange- 
ment of the sheets was afterwards reduced to a system: 
the first or lowest sheet being laid with the flesh-side 
downwards so that when the sheets were folded that side 
always formed the first page of the quire.’ In the Codex 
Alexandrinus, however, the first page of a quire is the 
hair-side of the skin. In Latin MSS. also the hair-side 
appears to have generally begun the quire. 

To the folded sheet was given the title diploma; 
a barbarous medizval name for it was arcus.* The leaf 
was χαρτίον, φύλλον, folium. The line of writing was 
στίχος, versus, linea, and riga. 


Ruling. 


In the earlier centuries of the middle ages, the ruled 
lines of vellum MSS. were drawn with a hard-pointed 
instrument, a blunt bodkin or stilus, on one side of the 
leaf, the lines being impressed with sufficient force to 
cause them to stand ont in relief on the other side. The 
ruling was almost invariably on the hair- (or outer) side of 
the skin. Marginal lines were drawn to bound the text 
laterally. The distances of the horizontal lines from one 
another were marked off with pricks of the compass in 
vertical order down the page. In earlier MSS. these 
prickings are often found near the middle of the leaf, or 
at least within the space occupied by the text, and the 
lines are drawn right across the sheet and not confined 
within the vertical boundaries. It was afterwards the 
custom to prick off the spaces close to the margiu and to 
keep the ruled lines within limits; and eventually the 
prickings often disappeared when the edges were shorn 
by the binder. Lach sheet should be ruled separately : 
but two or more sheets were not infrequently laid ana 
ruled together, the lines being so deeply drawn on the 
upper sheet that the lower sheets also received the 
impressions. In rare instances lines are found ruled on 
both sides of the leaf, as in some parts of the Codex 


* C. R. Gregory, Les Cahiers des MSS. Grecs.in the Comptes 
Rendus of the Acad. des Inscriptions, 1885, p. 261. 
4 Wattenbach, Schriftw. 155. 


64 Palxography. 


Alexandrinus. In this MS. also, and in some other early 
codices, ruling was not drawn for every line of writing, 
but was occasionally spaced so that some lines of the 
text lay in the spaces while others stood on the ruled 
lines. Ruling with the lead point or plummet came into 
ordinary use in the twelfth century; coloured ink was 
also used for ruled lines in the fifteenth century. 


Arrangement of the Text. 


The text, which in early MSS. was written continuously 
without separation of words, might be written across the 
face of the page ; and in some cases, as in poetical works, 
no other arrangement could well be followed. But, con- 
tinuing the system observed in the papyrus rolls, the 
arrangement in columns was usual. The superior con- 
venience of the column over the long line is obvious, par- 
ticularly when a small character was the type of writing, 
The number of columns ina page was ordinarily two ; but 
three and even four were also allowed. The Codex 
Sinaiticus of the Greek Bible has four columns in a page, 
so that the open book presents a series of eight columns 
to the reader, which, it has been observed, would forcibly 
recall the long row of paging of the papyrus roll.* The 
Codex Vaticanus has three columns in a page in the 
portion containing the Old Testament; and other early 
MSS. or fragments of MSS. exhibit the same arrange- 
ment, e.g. the Vatican fragments of Sallust, the Latin 
Pentateuch of Lyons, and others in the libraries of Rome, 
Milan, etc.® But the tri-columnar system appears to have 
been generally abandoned after the sixth century. The 
Utrecht Psalter, written at the beginning of the 9th 
century, in triple columns, is not an instance which counts 
for late usage, the MS. being only an exact copy of an 


δ᾽ The phrase of Eusebius, Vita Const. iv. 37, “ἐν πολυτελῶς 
ἠσκημένοις τεύχεσι τρισσὰ Kal τετρασσά," probably refers to the 
number of columns. See Wattenbach, Schrifiw. 149, 

6 See Wattenbach, Schriftw. 149. It may also be noted that 
the most ancient dated MS. in existence, the Syriac MS. of 
A.D. 411, containing the Recognitions of Clement of Rome (Brit. 
Mus. Add. MS. 12,150), is written in triple columns, 


Se a Pe) Le 


Forms of Books. 65 


older codex.’? Usually the later examples are the result 
of necessity, as in the case of Psalters in parallel ver- 
sions or languages.® A late instance, however, of a text 
written in this fashion, without any compelling causes, 
occurs in the Latin Bible of the 9th century, Add. MS. 
24,142, in the British Museum. 

With regard to the breaking up of the text into 
paragraphs, and more particularly into the short sen- 
tences known as otvyol, the reader is referred to what 
is said below under the heads of Punctuation and 
Stichometry. 

As already noticed, the text of early MSS. was gene- 
rally written continuously without separation of the 
words; and this practice continued as a rule down 
to about the ninth century. But even when the scribes 
had begun to break up their lines into words, it still 
continued to be the fashion to attach short words, 
6.4. prepositions, to those which immediately followed 
them. It was hardly before the eleventh century that 
a perfect system of separately-written words was esta- 
blished in Latin MSS. In Greek MSS. it may be.said 
that the system was at no time perfectly followed, for, 
even when the words were distinguished, there was 
always a tendency to separate them inaccurately. 

The first lines of the main divisions of the text, as for 
example the several books of the Bible, were often 
written in red for distinction, 

In order to save space, and to get as much as possible 
into a line, or to avoid division of a word, the letters 
were often written smaller towards the end of the line; 
and in Latin MSS., with the same object, two or more 
letters were linked or combined in a monogrammatic 
form. 

At first, in uncial Latin MSS., there was no enlarge- 
ment of letters in any part of the text to mark the 


7 The later copies of this Psalter also maintain the same 
arrangement. 

8 A Psalter in four parallel columns (the Greek and the three 
Latin versions), A.D. 1105, is in the bibl. Nationale, MS. Lat. 
2195. See Pal. Soc. i. 156. 


6 


~ νον 


66 Palexography. 


beginnings of sections or chapters; yet, in some of the 
earliest examples, the first letter of the page, without 
regard to its position in relation to the text, is made 
larger than the rest. 

Rubrics and titles and colophons (that is, titles, etc., 
written at the ends of books) were at first written in 
the same characters as the text; afterwards it was 
found convenient, as a distinction, to employ different 
characters. Thus in later uncial Latin MSS. titles 
might be in capitals or rustic capitals; in minuscule 
MSS. they might be written in capitals or uncials. The 
convenience of having the title at the beginning of a 
MS., instead of only in colophon-form at the end, was 
soon recognized ; but the use of the colophon still con- 
tinued, the designation of a work being frequently 
recorded in both title and colophon down to the latest 
period. 

Running titles or head-lines appear in even some. of 
the earliest MSS., in the same characters as the text, 
but of smaller size. 

In the division of words at the end of a line, it was 
the ancient practice to break off with a complete syllable. 
In Greek, however, in the case of compound words, 
the Jast. consonant of the prefix was carried on to 
the next syllable, if this was a vowel or began with a 
vowel, as «a-tei-dov; and the same method was ob- 
served with a preposition and the following word, as 
κα-τέἐ-μοῦ. With such a system in vogue it is not sur- 
prising to find it extended occasionally to other cases, 
as ταῦ-τοῦχ. In simple words the sigma was not un- 
commonly carried on to a following consonant, as pey- 
στος. 

In Latin MSS., while the observance of the true 
syllabic division was maintained according to ancient 
asage, and, when two consonants came together, they 
were properly assigned to their several syllables, as 
dic-tus, prop-ter, ig-navus, pris-cus, hos-pes, hos-tis, yet 
in some ancient texts the first consonant is drawn over 
to the second, as di-ctus, ho-stis, etc., in accordance with 
the Greek practice noticed above; and in some MSS. we 


ΝΥΝ 


ee SG ee Ot ot rt ἾὟὙε Ο. 


γ΄ ᾿ 
Ῥ 


κῶλα πυροῦ tee ie τ πόλει κῆρ το τ «ῳγ)κα ὦ. ἡ Ψὶ 


Forus of Books. 67 


find the older style altered to suit the later, as in the 
Fulda MS. of the Gospels, corrected in the sixth 
century by Victor of Capua,' and the Harley Gospels of 
about the year 600.° 

The coupling stroke or hyphen, to indicate connection 
of the two parts of the divided word, appears to have 
been unknown in the early centuries. A point per- 
forms this duty in early instances. In the eleventh 
century the hyphen at the end of the line shows itself 
on a few occasions ; in the twelfth century it becomes. 
more systematic, and is also repeated at the beginning 
of the next iine, 


Punctuation.— Greek. 


The earliest form in which a system of punctuation 
appears is that found in ancient inscriptions, wherein 
the several words are divided from one another by 
single, double, or treble dots or points. ‘lhis, however, 
is not punctuation in the sense in which we use the term 
—the system whereby sentences are marked out, and 
the sense of the text is made clear. 

The ancient practice of writing literary texts con- 
tinuously, without distinction of words, was not, indeed, 
quite universal ; for the astronomical treatise known as 
the ᾿Ευδόξου τεχνή, earlier than 154 B.c., at Paris, is an 
instance to the contrary. But it was certainly by far 
the more ordinary method, and in the uncial vellum 
MSS. of the earlier middle ages it may be said to have 
been the only method that was followed. In the docu- 
ments of ordinary life the distinction of words was, from 
early times, more frequently, though still only partially, 
observed. When the minuscule writing came into use 
as the literary hand, separation of the words from cne 
another gradually followed; but never was this system 
fully perfected. For example, prepositions were still 
attached to the following words, and there was always 


1 Zangemeister and Wattenbach, Exempla Codd. Lat., tab. 
XXXiv. 


“3 Brit. Mus. Cat. Anc. MSS., pt. 1. p. 14. 


68 Palxography. 


a tendency to detach a final letter, and to attach it to 
the next following word. 

The inconvenience which we experience in reading ὦ 
continuously written text could not have been so greatly 
felt by the scholars of the old Greek world ; otherwise 
separation of words, and a perfect system of punctuation, 
would have been established long before was actually 
the case. Still the distinction of paragraphs was found 
a necessity at an ancient period. Hence arose the 
dividing stroke, the wapaypados, known, at all events, 
as early as Aristotle’s time, separating paragraphs by 
being inserted between them at the beginnings of lines ; 
but, it should be remembered, the stroke reaily belonged 
to the concluding paragraph, and marked its termina- 
tion, and did not form an initial sign for the new para- 
graph which followed. The paragraph-mark was not, 
however, uniformly the horizontal stroke ; the wedge > 
(διπλῆ), the mark which is also often found at the 
end of a work, 7 (kopwvis), and similar forms were em- 
ployed. This system of distinguishing paragraphs ap- 
pears in use in the early papyri, and analogously the 
dividing stroke marks off the speeches of the different 
characters in the surviving papyrus fragments of the 
tragedians, as, for example, in the very ancient remains 
of the Antiope of Euripides. 

But to write every paragraph distinct by itself would 
have entailed a certain loss of space. If the last line 
were short, there would remain a vacant space after it, 
unoccupied by writing. In the earliest specimens there- 
fore we find this space occupied by the first words of 


the next paragraph, a slight break being left to mark 
105 commencement, thus :— 


ECOMEGA OYFAPAH 
TIOYOAY MTTIAAIMEN 


The next step was to draw back the first letter of the 


᾿ first full line of the new paragraph, and leave it slightly 


projecting into the margin; and then lastly to enlarge it. 


Forms of Books. 69 


The letter made thus prominent being a sufficient in- 
dication of the commencement of the new paragraph, 
the stroke or wedge between the lines was no longer 
necessary and ordinarily disappeared. Thus the two 
lines given above would, in this last stage of develop- 
ment, be written thus.:— 


ECOMEBA OYFAPAH 
TIOYOAY MTTIAAIMEN 


Of course, if the paragraph commenced at the begin- 
ning of a line, the large letter took its natural place as 
the initial; but, arranged as above, any letter, even one 
in the middle of a word, might be enlarged. 

This system is found in action in the Codex Alexan- 
drinus, attributed to the 5th century, and continued to 
be practised throughout the middle ages. But it should 
be noted that, although rendered unnecessary by the in- 
troduction of the large initial, the paragraph mark also 
appears in this MS., but generally in anomalous positions, 
particularly above the initial letters of the different books 
—an indication that the scribes of the day had already 
begun to forget the meaning and proper use of the 
mark. 

We next have to consider punctuation by points. As 
already stated, these were used in ancient inscriptions, 
The earliest instance of their employment in a Greek 
MS. occurs in the very ancient fragment known as 
the Artemisia papyrus, at Vienna, wherein the double 
point (:) occasionally closes a sentence. Again, in the 
fragments of the Phexdo of Plato, found at Gurob, the 
same double point appears as a mark of punctuation ; 
and it may also be here added that a short horizontal 
stroke or dash also serves the purpose of separating the 
different speeches in the same fragments. ‘The double 
point also, in addition to the mapaypados, occasionally 
marks the close of the paragraphs in the Paris papyrus 
49, a letter of about 160 8.c. But such isolated instances 
merely show that there was a knowledge of the value of 


70 Paleography. 


such marks of punctuation, which, however, in practice 
were not systematically employed. 

A more regular system was developed in the schools 
of Alexandria, its invention being ascribed to Aristo- 
phanes of Byzantium (260 B.c.). This was the use of 
the full point with certain values in certain positions 
(θέσεις) : the high point (στυγμὴ τελεία), equivalent to a 
full stop; the point on the line (ὑποστιγμή), a shorter 
pause, equivalent to our semicolon; and the point in a 
middle position (στιγμὴ μέση), an ordinary pause, equi- 
valent to our comma. In the Codex Alexandrinus the 
middle and high points are pretty generally used. But 
the middle point eventually disappeared ; and about the 
ninth century the comma was introduced. It also became 
a common practice to mark the conclusion of a paragraph 
or chapter with a more emphatic sign, such as two or 
more dots with or without a horizontal dash, :, :-, .*.. 
The mark of interrogation also first appears about the 
8th or 9th century, 


Punctuation.—-Latin. 


The punctuation of Latin MSS. followed in some 
respects the systems of the Greeks. In the poem on the 
Battle of Actium, found at Herculaneum, points are used 
to mark off the words, a practice borrowed from inscrip- 
tions; and in the early MSS. of Virgil in the Vatican 
Library points are found employed for the same purpose, 
although they appear to be due to a second, but still 
early, hand. From the Latin grammarians we know that 
they adopted the Greek system of punctuation by points 
(θέσεις, positure), to which they gave the titles of 
‘‘distinctio finalis,” ‘‘ subdistinctio,” and “ distinctio 
media”; but in practice we find that the scribes used © 
the points without consistently adhering to their 
meaning. 

In some of the more ancient MSS. marks of punctua- 
tion are entirely wanting, only a short space being left 
blank in the line to indicate the conclusion of a passage 


Forms of Books. 71 


or paragraph, as in Greek MSS., but without the accom- 
panying dividing line (wapaypados) or the enlarged letter 
at the beginning of the first full line, which the Greek 
scribes employed. Yet the paragraph mark was used to 
separate paragraphs or divisions of the text (as, for 
example, in the poem on the Battle of Actium) when the 
new paragraph began a line; and its eventual conver- 
sion from a mere sign of separation between two para- 
graphs into a sign belonging to the head of the new 
paragraph was a natural development. Our modern { 
is directly derived from the simple ancient form T. 

In early uncial MSS. it is not uncommon to find the 
point, more often in the middle position, used as an 
ordinary stop; and at the end of a paragraph or chapter, 
a colon, or colon and dash, or a number of points, 
occasionally indicate a final stop. In the seventh century 
the high point is used with the force of a comma, the semi- 
colon with its modern value, and a point and virgule, "7, 
or other combinations of points, asa full stop. In the 
Carlovingian period and the next centuries we have the 
inverted semicolon, holding a position between our comma 
and semicolon, and the comma itself. The origin of the 
former of these is uncertain, It appears first with some 
regularity in MSS. of the eighth century; but it 1s 
noticeable that a mark which resembles it occurs in the 
Actium poem, being there formed by the addition of an 
oblique stroke to an ordinary point. Along with these 
later signs also appears the mark of interrogation in 
common use. 


Breathings and Accents and Other Signs.—Greek. 


_Breathings and accents, like the Greek system of 
punctuation by points noticed above, are also attributed 
to Aristophanes of Byzantium, as part of the δέκα προσῳ- 
dia, of which he is called the inventor. 

The rough (+) and the smooth (4) breathings (πνεύματα) ~ 
at first representcd the left and the right half of the 
letter H, which itself was originally the aspirate. They 


—— νοι 


72 Palexography. 


were soon worn down to t and 4, in which shapes they 
are found in early MSS.; and eventually these square 
forms became the rounded «and», the period at which 
they definitely arrived at this last stage being the 12th 
century. Only occasionally are marks of breathing found 
in the more ancient MSS., and then it is generally the 
rough breathing that is distinguished. 

The accents (τόνοι) are: the grave ἡ (βαρεῖα), or 
ordinary tone; the acute " (ὀξεῖα), marking a rise in 
the voice; and the circumflex ~ (ὀξυβαρεῖα or περισπω- 
μένη), combining the other two, and indicating a rise 
and fall or slide of the voice. Originally, in theory, all 
syllables which were not marked with the acute accent 
or circumflex received the grave accent, as Θέοδὼρὸς ; 
and several examples of this actually occur in the Harris 
Homer. In the same MS., and occasionally in the 
Bankes Homer, we also see instances of the indication 
of normally oxytone words (in which the acute accent 
falls on the last syllable) by placing a grave accent on 
the penultimate, as λων. In later MSS. a double accent 
marks emphatically μὲν and δὲ, 

Breathings and accents were not systematically applied 
to Greek texts before the seventh century. 

The rest of the ten signs attributed to Aristophanes 
of Byzantium, to assist in the correct reading of texts, 
are as follows :— 

The χρόνοι, or marks to distinguish a long (~) and a 
short (~) syllable, instances of their employment occur- 
ring in the Harris Homer and in some other early docu- 
ments on papyrus. 

The διαστολή or ὑποδιαστολή, ἃ virguie or comma In- 
serted between words where the distinction might be 
ambiguous, 88 ἐστι, vous, not ἐστίν, ous. 

The hyphen (dev), a curve or line drawn under the 
letters to indicate connection, as, for example, to indicate 
compound words. In the Harris Homer the hyphen, 
in the form of a long straight line, is used for this 
purpose. 

The apostrophe (ἀπόστροφος), which, besides markirg 
elision, was used for other purposes, and whose form 


——eE7~E OO 


Forms of Books. 73 


varied from a curve to a straight accent or even a mere 
dot. It was very generally placed in early MSS. after 
a foreign name, or a name not having a Greek termina- 
tion, as, for example, ᾿Αβρααμ᾽, and after a word ending 
in a hard consonant, as «, x, &, Ψ, andalsoinp, When 
a double consonant occurred in the middle of a word, an 
apostrophe was placed above the first or between the 
two letters. In a papyrus of a.p. 542 (Pal. Soc. 11. 123), 
a dot represents the apostrophe in this position; and in 
a MS. of the 8th or 9th century (Pal. Soc. 11. 126), a 
double apostrophe is employed. The apostrophe is also 
used to distinguish two concurrent vowels, as ἐματια᾽ av- 
των. In some instances it is even placed between two 
different consonants, as e.g. api0 *wos, in the Vienna MS. 
of Dioscorides, 

In addition to the marks and signs already noticed, 
there are some others which occur in Greek MSS. 

Marks of dizresis, placed over ὁ and v when at the 
beginning of a word or when they do not form a diph- 
thong with a foregoing vowel, occur in papyri, being 
either a single or double dot or short stroke, or, in some 
instances, a short accent; in later MSS. the form is 
usually a double dot. 

Quotations are indicated by marks in the margin, the 
most common being the arrow-head, > or <, and the 
cross, horizontal stroke, or waved stroke being aiso used. 
More rarely, quoted passages are indented, that is, writ- 
ten within the marginal line of the text. 

To distinguish words consisting of a single letter, a 
short acute accent or similar mark is found in use, as, in 
the Codex Alexandrinus, to mark 7 in its various mean- 
ings asaword. Apparently from ignorance or confusion 
the scribes of this MS. even placed a mark on 7 when 
merely a letter in a word. The article ὁ is found simi- 
larly distinguished in a papyrus of a.p. 595 (Pal. Soc. i. 
124). 

To fill small spaces left vacant at the end of a line, an 
arrow-head or tick was employed; as, for example, in 
the papyrus of Hyperides (Lycophron), and in the Codex 
Sinaiticus. 


74 Paleography. 


Arbitrary signs, or signs composed of dots or strokes; 
are used as reference marks to marginal scholia, or to 
indicate insertion of omitted words or passages. In the 
papyrus of Hyperides (Lycophron) the place for inser- 
tion of an omitted line is marked, and has the word 
avo, while the line itself, written in the margin above, 
has κάτω. In the papyrus of Aristotle on the Constitu- 
tion of Athens, a letter or word inserted between the 
lines has sometimes a dot on each side. 

In the same manner various signs are employed to 
indicate transposition, such as numerical letters, or (as 
in the papyrus of Aristotle) slanting strokes and dots 
(/*) placed above the words. 

To distinguish words or other combinations of letters 
from the rest of the text, a line was drawn above them ; 
thus the grammatical forms in the papyrus attributed 
to T'ryphon, in the British Museum, and the reference 
letters in the Oxford Euclid of a.p. 888 are so marked. 

Besides actually striking ont a letter or word or 
passage with a pen-stroke, the ancient scribes indicated 
erasure by including the word or passage between in- 
verted commas or brackets or dots, one at the beginning 
and one at’the end; sometimes by accents above, as 
€.g. των (to erase the v), Τά and παντά (to cover the 
whole word), as seen in the’ Codex Alexandrinus; some- 
times by a line above, ἃ5 καὶ; sometimes by a dot above, 
rarcly below, each letter. 


Accents and other Signs.—Latin. 


Accents were seldom used by Latin scribes. Occa- 
sionally they mark a monosyllabic word, as the exclama- 
tion ὁ, or a preposition, as d@; and sometimes they are 
employed to emphasize a sy lable. 

As in Greek MSS., quotations are indicated by marks 
in the margin or by indentation; and arbitrary signs 
are uséd to mark the place of insertion of omissions. 
Common reference marks are hd hs=hic deest, hoc 
supra or hic scribas, etc. Transposition of words might 
be indicated in various ways, as by letters or numbers, 


Fors of Books. 73 


and very commonly by oblique strokes above the line, 
as mea mater = mater mea. 

Finally, for correction, the simple method of striking 
out with the pen and interlining or adding in the mar- 
gin was followed, as well as that of marking words or 
letters for deletion with dots above or below them. 

Besides the above, other marks and signs are found in 
both Greek and Latin MSS., such as the private marks 
of correctors or readers. There are also critical symbols, 
such as the diple and the asterisk employed by Aris- 
tarchus in the texts of Homer, and the obelus and 
asterisk used by St. Jerome to distinguish certain pas- 
sages in versions of the Latin Psalter. But the con- 
sideration of these is beyond the scope of the present 
work, 


Palimpsests, 


A palimpsest MS. is one from which the first writing 
has been rubbed off in order to make the leaves ready to 
receive fresh writing. Sometimes this process was re- 
peated, and the leaves finally received a third text, the 
MS. being in such a case doubly palimpsest. This 
method of obtaiming writing material was practised in 
early times. The term ‘“ palimpsest” is used by Ca- 
tullus,’ apparently with reference to papyrus; also by 
Cicero in a passage” wherein he is evidently speaking of 
waxen tablets; and by Plutarch, who narrates* that 
Plato compared Dionysius to a βιβλίον παλίμψηστον, his 
tyrannical nature, δυσέκπλυτος, showing through like the 
imperfectly erased writing of a palimpsest MS., that is, 
a papyrus roll from which the first writing had been 
washed. ‘The word, however, indicating, as it does, the 
action of scraping or rubbing, could originally have only 
been strictly applied to material strong enough to bear 
such treatmeut, as vellum or waxen tablets. Papyrus 
could only be washed, not scraped or rubbed, and the 


' Carm. xxii. 5. 2 Ad Fam. vii. 18. 
ὃ Cum princip. philosoph., ad fin. 


76 Paleography. 


application of the term to a twice-written papyrus or 
waxen tablet or vellum MS. indifferently, proves that 
the term had become so current as to have passed beyond 
its strict meaning. 

If the first writing were thoroughly removed from the 
surface of vellum, none of it, of course, could ever be re- 
covered. But, as a matter of fact, it appears to have 
been often very imperfectly effaced ; and even if, to all 
appearance, the vellum was restored to its original con- 
dition of an unwritten surface, yet slight traces of the 
text might remain which chemical re-agents, or even the 
action of the atmosphere, might again intensify and 
make legible. Thus many capitaland uncial texts have 
been recovered from palimpsest MSS. Of modern 
chemical re-agents used in the restoration of such texts 
the most harmless is probably hydro-sulphuret of 
ammonia. 

Great destruction of vellum MSS. of the early cen- 
turies of our era must have followed the fall of the 
Roman empire. Political and social changes would 
interfere with the market, and writing material would 
become scarce and might be supplied from MSS. 
which had become useless and were considered idle 
encumbrances of the shelves. In the case of Greek 
MSS., so great was their consumption that a synodal 
decree of the year 691 forbade the destruction of 
MSS. of the Scriptures or of the fathers, imperfect or 
injured volumes excepted. It has been remarked that no 
entire work has in any instance been found in the original 
text of a palimpsest, but that portions of different MSS. 
were taken to make up a volume for a second text. 

The most valuable Latin texts are found in the 
volumes which were re-written from the seventh to the 
ninth centuries. In many instances the works of classi- 
cal writers have been obliterated to make room for 
patristic literature or grammatical works. On _ the 
other hand, there are instances of classical texts having 
been written over Biblical MSS. ; but these are of late 
date. 

In the great Syriac collection of MSS. which were 


Forms of Books. "7 


obtained from the monastery in the Nitrian Desert 
of Egypt and are now in the British Museum, many im- 
portant texts have been recovered. A volume contain- 
ing a work of Severus of Antioch, of the beginning of 
the 9th century, is written on palimpsest leaves taken 
from MSS. of the Ihad of Homer and the Gospel of St. 
Luke of the 6th century (Cat. Anc. MSS. 1. pls. 9, 
10) and of the Elements of Euclid of the 7th or 8th 
century. Another volume of the same collection is 
doubly palimpsest, a Syriac text of St. Chrysostom, of 
the 9th or 10th century, covering a Latin grammatical 
work of the 6th century, which again has displaced the 
annals of the Latin historian Licinianus of the 5th cen- 
tury (Cat. Anc. MSS. ii. pls. 1, 2). At Paris is the 
Codex Ephraemi, containing portions of the Old and New 
Testaments in Greek, of the 5th century, which are re- 
written with works of Ephraem Syrus in a hand of the 
12th century; and some fragments of the Phaeton of 
Euripides are found in the Codex Claromontanus. At 
the Vatican are portions of the De Republica of 
Cicero, of the 4th century, under the work of St. 
Augustine on the Psalms of the 7th century; and 
an Arian fragment of the 5th century. At Verona is 
the famous palimpsest which contains the MS. of Gaius 
of the 5th century, as well as the Fasti Consulares of 
a.p. 486. At Milan are the fragments of Plautus, in 
rustic capitals of the 4th or 5th century, covered by 
a Biblical text of the 9th century. F'acsimiles of many 
of these MSS. are given by Zangemeister and Watten- 
bach in their Exempla Codicum Laliaorum. 


CUAPTER VI. 


STICHOMETRY. 


Tne Grecks and Romans measured the contents of their 
MSS. by lines. In poetry the unit was of course the 
verse ; in prose works an artificial unit had to be found, 
for no two scribes would naturally write lines of the 
same length. It has been calculated that this unit was 
a standard line of fifteen or sixteen syllables, or thirty- 
four to thirty-eight letters, that is, an average Homeric 
line, called by the earlier writers ἔπος, afterwards στέχος. 

Records of the measurements of prose works are 
found in two forms: in references to the extent of the 
works of particular authors made by later writers, and 
in the entries of the actual figures in MSS. These latter 
entries may actually give the extent of the MSS. in 
which they are found; but more frequently they trans- 
mit the measurements of the archetypes. The quotations 
found in Greek writers are fairly numerous, and were 
no doubt mainly derived from the catalogues of libraries, 
where details of this. nature were collected. Such a 
catalogue was contained in the famous πίνακες of the 
Alexandrian libraries published by Callimachus about the 
middle of the third century B.c. The earliest instances 
of the entry of the actual number of lines occur in 
papyri. A fragment of Huripides,’ of a period earlier 
than the year 161 B.c., has at the end the words 
CTIXOI MA. Inthe Herculanean papyriare found such 
entries as PINOAHMOY ΠΕΡῚ PHTOPIKHC XXXX 


HH (=4200 lines), or ENIKOYPOY ΠΕΡΙ ¢YCENC 


1 Un papyrus inédit de la Bibl. de M. A. Firivin-Didot, Paris, 
1879. 


Stichometry. 79 


ΙΕ. APIO. XXXHH (= 38200 lines), which, however, 
are probably traditional numbers copied from earlier 
examples. In addition to the number of lines we some- 
times find a record of the number of columns or 
σέλιδες. Among the medieval MSS. which have sticho- 
metrical memoranda, a copy of the Ialieutica of 
Oppian, of the 15th century, at Madrid, contains a 
statement of the number of leaves (φύλλα) as well as 
lines in the several books, not of this particular MS., 
but of its archetype. In like manner the Lauren- 
tian Sophocles of the 11th century —has similar 
memoranda of the length of the several plays. ‘he 
Laurentian MS. of Herodotus, of the 10th century, 
and the Paris MS. of Demosthenes, of the same period, 
afford data of the same kind. In certain of these more 
recent MSS., as well as in the early papyri, the ancient 
system of Greek numeration is employed—a proof of 
the antiquity of this method of calculating the length of 
written works; but, on the other hand, the later system 
of alphabetical numeration is followed in some of the 
Herculanean rolls. 

The practice of stichometry can actually be traced 
back to nearly a century before the time of Callima- 
chus, who has been sometimes credited with its inven- 
tion. Theopompus, as quoted by Photius,’ boasts that 
he had written 20,000 ἔπη in rhetorical speeches, and 
150,000 in historical books. When we thus find a 
writer of the fourth century B.c. measuring his works in 
terms which are clearly intelligible and need no ex- 
planation for those to whom he addresses himself, we 
can understand that even at that early period the 
system must have been long established by common 
usage. 

While stichometrical data can be gathered in fairly 
large numbers from Greek literature, those which are 
to be found relating to Latin authors are comparatively 
few ; but, such as they are, they show that the Latin 


ἐς Bibliotheca, cod. 170, § 120, Sce also Isocrates, Panuthen, 
6. 


"» 


80 Palzxography. 


versus corresponded closely with the Greek ἔπος or 
στίχος. 

Besides the system of stichometry just explained, and 
to which, on account of its dealing with the full measure- 
ment of literary works, the title of “ total stichometry ” 
has been applied, there was also another system in 
practice which has been named “ partial stichometry.” 
This was the numbering of lines or verses at convenient 
intervals, which, in the first place, served the same 
purpose of literary reference as our modern system of 
numbering the verses of the Bible or the lines of a 
play or poem, Instances of such partial stichometry 
indeed are not very numerous among existing MSS. ; 
but they are sufficient to show that the system was 
recognized. Thus, in the Bankes Homer, the verses 
are numbered in the margin by hundreds, and the same 
practice is followed in other papyri of Homer (Classical 
Texts from Papyri in the Brit. Mus.) ; so likewise in the 
Ambrosian Pentateuch of the 5th century, at Milan, 
the Book of Deuteronomy is numbered at every hun- 
dredth otiyos. THuthalius, a deacon of Alexandria of the 
fifth century, also announces that he marked the στίχον 
of the Pauline Epistles by fifties. And in the Codex 
Urbinas of Isocrates, and in the Clarke Plato of a.p. 888, 
at Oxford, indications of partial stichometry have been 
traced. 

The most practical use of such systems of stichometry 
was no doubt a commercial one. By counting the num- 
ber of lines, the payment of the scribes could be exactly 
calculated and the market price of MSS. arranged. 
When once a standard copy had been written and the 
number of στίχοι registered, subsequent copies could be 
made in any form at the pleasure of the scribe, who 
need only enter the ascertained number of lines at the 
end of his work. Thus, in practice, we find papyri and 
early vellum MSS. written in narrow columns, the lines 


3 See a notice printed by Mommsen in Hermes, xxi. 142, 
Zur Lateinischen Stichometrie, of a MS. at Cheltenham which 
affords evidence of the computation, about a.D. 359, of the length 
of the works of Cyprian by the standard of a Virgilian line. 


Stichometry. 81 


of which by no means correspond in length with the 
regulation στίχοι, but which were more easily read with- 
out tiring the eye. The edict of Diocletian, De pretvis 
rerum venalium, of a.D. 301, settled the tariff for scribes 
by the hundred lines; and a survival of the ancient 
method of calculating such remuneration has been found 
in the practice at Bologna and other Italian universities, 
in the middle ages, of paying by the pecia of sixteen 
columns, each of sixty-two lines with thirty-two letters 
to the line. An analogous practice in our own day is 
seen in the copyist’s charge by the folio of either seventy- 
two or one hundred words. 

We have hitherto considered στίχοι as lines of 
measurement or space-lines. But the same term was 
also applied to the lines or short periods into which cer- 
tain texts were divided in order to facilitate reading : in 
other words, sense-lines. The works which would natur- 
ally more than others call for such an arrangement would 
be those which were read in public: the speeches of 
orators, or the sacred books of the Bible used for 
Church lessons, We have evidence of an early and 
regular division of the orations of Demosthenes and 
Cicero into short periods: the cola and commata to which 
St. Jerome refers in his preface to Isaiah.* Manuscripts 
of the works of the Latin orator are still in existence, the 
text of which is written in this form, one of them being 
a MS. of the Tusculans and the De Senectute attri- 
buted to the 9th century, at Paris; and it is evident 
from certain passages in the writings of early rhetoricians 
that they were familiar with this system in the orations 
of Demosthenes. 

Suidas explains a colon as a στίχος forming a complete 
clause ; Joannes Siculus lays down that a clause of less 


4 “Nemo cum Prophetas versibus viderit esse descriptos metro 
eos wstimet apud Hebreos ligari, et aliquid simile habere de 
Psalmis vel operibus Salomonis: sed quod in Demosthene et 
Tullio solet fieri, ut per cola scribuatur et commata, qui utique 
τς et non versibus conscripserunt, nos quoque, utilitati 
egentium. providentes, interpretationem novam novo scribendi 
genere distinximus.” 

7 


82 Paleography. 


than eight syllables is a comma, and that one of from 
eight to seventeen syllables isacolon. In the place cited 
above, St. Jerome tells us that he has, for convenience in 
reading, followed the system of the MSS. of Demo- 
sthenes and Cicero, and arranged his translation in this 
“new style of writing.”’ But he had already found the 
same system followed in the Psalms and poetical books 
of the Old Testament—just where one would look for the 
first experiment of casting the text in sense-lines. Hence 
the title βίβλοι στιχήρεις or oTvynpat which was applied to 
them. The system was gradually extended to the other 
books of the Bible, the term στίχος being now used 
altogether to mean a sense-line, although the ancient 
stichometrical measurements of the text into space- 
lines were still recorded at the ends of the books. 
Kuthalius is credited with haying written at least the 
Acts and Epistles in this stichometrical sense-arrange- 
ment; although it seems more probable that he only 
revised the work of predecessors, also accurately mea- 
suring the space-lines and numbering them as noticed 
above. As might be expected, one arrangement of 
the text of the Bible in rhythmical sentences or lines 
of sense would not be consistently followed by all editors 
and scribes; and hence we find variations in the length 
of lines and sentences in the different extant Biblical 


MSS. 
TACHYGRAPHY. 


Greek. 


The Greeks appear to have had a system of shorthand 
at a very early date. A fragment of an inscription found 
recently on the Acropolis at Athens has been shown by 
Gomperz’ to be a portion of an explanation of a kind of 
shorthand, composed of arbitrary signs, as old as the fourth 
century B.c. A passage in Diogenes Laertius was for- 


* Ueber ein bisher unbekanntes griech. Schrift-system aus der 
Mitte des vierten vorchristlichen Jahrhunderts, Wien, 1884. 
See also P. Mitaschke, Hine griech. Kurzschrift aus dem vierten 
Jahrhundert, in the Archiv fir Stenographie, No. 494. 


Lachygraphy. 83 


merly interpreted to imply that Xenophon wrote shorthand 
notes (ὑποσημειωσάμενος) of the lectures of Socrates ; 
but a similar expression elsewhere, which will not bear 
this meaning, has caused this idea to beabandoned. The 
first undoubted mention of a Greek shorthand writer occurs 
in a passage in Galen (περὶ τῶν ἰδίων βιβλίων γράφη), 
wherein he refers to a copy made by one who could 
write swiftly in signs, διὰ σημείων εἰς τάχος γράφειν ; but 
there is no very ancient specimen of Greek tachygr aphy 
in existence. The occurrence, however, in papyri 
of certain symbols as marks of contraction or to repre- 
sent entire words, and particularly the comparatively 
large number of them found in the papyrus of Aristotle’s 
work on the Constitution of Athens, written about 
A.D. 100, goes to prove that the value of such symbols was 
commonly understood at that period,and indicates the 
existence of a perfected system of shorthand writing, 
A waxen book of several tablets, acquired not long 
since by the British Museum (Add. MS, 33,270), and 
assigned to the 3rd century, is inscribed with characters 
which are surmised to be in Greek shorthand, the only 
words written in ordinary letters being in that lan- 
guage. A system of shorthand was practised by the 
early Christians for taking down sermons and the pro- 
ceedings of synods. 

Bat we must descend to the tenth century before we 
meet with Greek tachygraphic MSS. which have been 
deciphered. The first is the Paris MS. of Hermogenes, 
which contains some marginal notes in mixed ordinary and 
tachygraphical characters, of which Montfaucon® gives an 
account with a table of forms, Next, there is a series of 
MSS. which owe their origin to the monastery of Grotta 
Ferrata, viz. the Add. MS. 18,231 of the British Museum, 
written in the year 972,and others of the same pericd 
(Pal. Soe. ii. pl. 28, 85, 86), which are full of partially 
tachygraphic texts and scholia, and also contain passages 
in shorthand pure and simple. And lastly there is the 
Vatican MS. 180), a volume of which forty-seven pages 


6 Falxogr. Grae. p. vol. 


] 
] 
| 
| 
} 


84 Palxography. 


are covered with tachygraphic writing of the eleventh 
century, which have been made the subject of special 
study by Dr. Gitlbauer for the Vienna Academy. Some 
shorthand passages which occur in a fourteenth century 
MS., and a passage from a fifteenth century MS. in the 
Vatican, have recently been published.’ 

The shorthand system of these later examples is 
syllabic, the signs, it is thought, being formed from 
uncials; and it has been concluded that it represents, if not 
a new creation of the ninth or tenth century, at least a 
modification and not a continuation of the older system 
—in a word, that two systems of Greek shorthand have 
existed. For it is found that the forms of contraction 
and abbreviation in Greek MSS. of the middle ages are 
derived from two sources, most of them springing from 
an ancient system, but others clearly being contributed 
by the later system of shorthand, 


Latin. 


According to Suetonius,’ the first introduction of 
shorthand signs, not#, in Rome was due to Hnnius; 
but more generally the name of Cicero’s freedman, 
Tiro, 15 associated with the invention, the signs being 
commonly named note Tiromane. Seneca is said to 
have collected the various note known at his time, to 
the number of 5000. Shorthand appears to have been 
taught in schools under the empire; and the emperor 
Titus himself is said to have been expert in writing it. 
There seems to have been, as it is natural there should 
have been, a connection between Greek and Latin tachy- 
graphy, certain symbols being the same in both. 

Down to the ninth century the notes appear to have 
been in common use. In the Frankish empire they are 
found in the signatures and subscriptions of charters, 
They were also used by revisers and annotators of MSS. 


7 T. W. Allen, Fourteenth Century Tachygraphy, in the Journal 
of Hellenic Studies, xi. 286; Desrousseaux, Sur quelques Manu 
scrits d'Italie, in the Mélanges of the Ecole Franga.se de Rome, 
1886, p. 544. 


§ “ Vulvares notas Ennius primus; mille et ceatum invenit.” 


Cryptography. 85 


The scholia and glosses in a MS. of Virgil, at Berne, 
of the latter half of the 9th century (Pal. Soe. ii. 
pl. 12) are partially written in these signs; but about 
this period they passed out of ordinary use. And yet 
there appears to have been an attempt made to check 
their total extinction; for there are still in existence 
MSS. of the Psalter, of the ninth or tenth century, 
in shorthand, which, it has been suggested, were written 
for practice. And the survival of Tironian lexicons, or 
collections of the signs, copied at this time, seems to 
point to an effort to keep them in the recollection of 
men. Professional scribes and notaries continued to 
use them in subscriptions to charters down to the 
eleventh century. 


CRYPTOGRAPHY. 


The various methods which at different periods have 
been adopted for the purpose of concealing the meaning 
of what is written, either by an elaborate system of 
secret signs or “cyphers,” or by a simpler and less 
artificial system, such as the substitution of other letters 
for the true letters required by the sense, only inci- 
dentally come within the scope of a work on Palzo- 
graphy. The cypher-system, like short-hand, has a 
special department of its own. It is only the modified 
practice of substituting letters and other common signs 
which need for a moment detain us, as it is followed 
occasionally in medizval MSS. This simple system, as 
might be naturally inferred, appears to be of some 
antiquity. Julius Cesar and Augustus, according to 
Suetonius, both had their own private methods of dis- 
guise, by substitution of consonants for vowels. In 
the middle ages consonants for vowels, or vowels for 
consonants, or other exchange of letters occur; some- 
times we have the substitution of Greek letters or of 
numera!s or other signs. but the surviving instances 
are not very numerous and generally appear in colophons 
for the purpose of disguising a name or year of date, at 
the caprice of the writer. 


CHAPTER VII. 
ABBREVIATIONS AND CONTRACTIONS. 


Greck. 


ABBREVIATIONS and contractions’ play an important part 
in Paleeography. Two reasons in particular dispose men 
to curtail written words: (1) the desire to avoid the 
labour of writing over and over again words of frequent 
recurrence, which can as easily be understood in an 
abbreviated as in an extended form; and (2) the neces- 
sity of saving space. 

From the earliest times there must have been a con- 
stant striving among individuals to relieve the toil of 
writing by shortening words. The author would soon 
construct a system of contraction of his own, and, espe- 
cially if he were writing on a subject into which tech- 
nical words would largely enter, his system would be 
adopted by other writers in the same field. In law 
deeds, in public and private accounts, in the various 
memoranda of the transactions of daily life, common and 
oft-repeated words must have been always subject to 
curtailment—at first at the caprice of individuals, but 
eradually on recognized systems intelligible to all. 

The simplest form of abbreviation is that in which a 
single letter (or at most, two or three letters) represents 
a word. Thus, there is the ancient Greek system of 
indicating numerals by the first letter, as 11 Ξ-- πέντε, A = 
δέκα, H (aspirate)=éxarov, and so on. On ancient 
coins, vhere available space was limited, we find the 
names of Greek cities indicated by the first two or three 

1 T use the word “‘abbreviation ” for the shortening of a word 


by suppressing its termination ; “ contraction ” for the shortening 
of a word by omitting letters from the body. 


ἐὰν ὌΦΙΣ ὶ 


Γ᾿ 


Abbreviations and Contractiozs. 87 


letters. Certain ordinary words also occur in inscriptions 
in shortened forms. The Roman usage of employing 
single letters to represent titles of rank is familiar to us 
from inscriptions, and has been handed down in the works 
of classical authors; the 8.P.Q.R. of the great Republic 
will occur to the recollection of everyone. Such abbre- 
viations by constant usage became a part of the written 
language. 

The fullest development to which a system of abbrevi- 
ation can attain is, of course, a perfected shorthand ; but 
this is far too artificial for the ordinary business of life. 
Something between simple single-letter signs and com- 
plex tachygraphical symbols is required, and hence we 
tind in the middle ages a good working system developed 
by Greek and Latin writers, which combined the advan- 
tages of both kinds of abbreviation. The letter system 
was extended, and certain tachygraphical symbols were 
taken over as representatives of entire words in common 
use or as convenient signs for prefixes and terminations.’ 

Tn tracing, then, the history of Greek and Latin abbre- 
viations ana contractions, as far as it can be ascertained 
from existing documents, we must be prepared to findin 
the systems of each certain elements which are of great 
antiquity. When we see in the case of medizxval 
minuscule Greek MSS. considerable differences in the 
system there in use from that which appears in uncial 


3 The art of reading contracted writing can necessarily only be 
acquired by those who have a knowledge of the languages in 
which the MSS. are written, and who will patiently persevere in 
their study. The beginner will find the first difficulty of master- 
ing the elementary forms of contraction of the middle ages most 
easily overcome by transcribing passages in extenso. For Greek, 
MSS. in minuscule writing of the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth cen- 
turies; for Latin, charters of the thirteenth and fourteenth cen- 
turies, are the best subjects to begin with. As regards the latter, 
they are generally short, the contractions are numerous; but at the 
same time particular phrases and contractions continually recur. 
The student has thus the advantage of passing under his eye a 
great variety of handwriting and of comparing the forms which 
individual letters and contractions take in the several documents ; 
while the recurrence of legal terms and phrases, which soon 
Lecome familiar, gives him the key to correct reading. 


88 Paleography. 


MSS., we might be led to infer that it was a new inven- 
tion; but a closer examination will prove that in its 
elements it is the same as that which was practised hun- 
dreds of years before, in the third century B.c. We may 
even carry our view still farther back. For, if in some 
of the earliest documents which have survived abbre- 
viated forms are in existence, not made at random but 
following certain laws in their formation, we have suffi- 
cient ground for assuming that the practice of abbrevia- 
tion was, even at that remote time, one of some antiquity, 
and that a long period must have passed for the develop- 
ment of a system intelligible to all readers. A still 
further, and even stronger, proof of the very ancient 
origin of this practice is afforded by the numerous 
symbols for particular words which are found in the 
earliest papyri. 

There does not exist, however, sufficient material for 
the construction of a continuous history of Greek abbre- 
viation between the two periods noted above, viz., the 
third century B.c. and the ninth century of our era, when 
the minuscule came into use as the literary hand. It 
will be therefore convenient, first of all, to consider the 
forms of abbreviation and contraction which are found 
in the uncial MSS. of the Scriptures and liturgies, 
which partially fill the gap of the vacant centuries. The 
earliest dates from the fourth century. In such MSS., 
which were, more than others, required for public reading, 
the rules followed are very simple, nor are the examples of 
abbreviation numerous. The omission of N at the end of 
a line is marked by a horizontal stroke, as OIKO-; a 
form common to all MSS. The middle of a word was 
omitted, the first and last letter (or at most one or two 
more) being given and surmounted. by a horizontal 
stroke, as ΘΟ = Θεύς, Words so contracted were con- 
fined generally to sacred names and titles and words of 
frequent occurrence, and their inflections, ‘They are 
(besides OC): [Ὁ -- Ἰησοῦς, ΧΟ-- Χριστός, YC = vids, 
KC=xvptos, TIP and TTAP=7atnp, ΜΡεΞμήτηρ, ANOC 


=av0pwros, OYNOC=ovpavos, 6KOC=6eor7dx0s, TINA 


»" NOC .».... 


Abbreviations and Contractions. 89 


πνεῦμα, ΓΗΡ--σωτήρ, CTPOC and CPOC=craupos, 
DAA=4avid, TAA and 10Λ-Ξ Ἰσραήλ, ΙΗ ΔΜ ="Inpov- 
σαλήμ. There are also a few other words contracted, as 
K=xai, Kj = μοῦ, M =or; and the verbal termination 
J=Ta. Occasionally a proner name appears abbre- 
viated on a different system, as IW = Ἰωάννης. 

Leaving these sacred and liturgical contractions for 
the present, we turn to the papyri of the third and 
second centuries B.c., which have been recovered from 
the tombs of Evypt, and see that here the system of 
simple abbreviation, or curtailment at the end of a word, 
was followed. Either the word was indicated by its 
initial letter alone with an abbreviating dash, as v= 
υἱοί; or the letter which immediately preceded the 
omitted portion was written above the line, as a key to 
the reading, thus : τελξξτέλος ; or two letters were so 
written, as T&=Téxva, ομοιτε- ὁμοίως. It is true that 
examples of such abbreviation are comparatively rare, 
but there are quite enough to prove that the system was 
recognized.* Certain of these over-written letters, even 
at this early period, betray a tendency to degenerate 
into dashes,‘ and this natural degeneration becomes 
more intensified in course of time. ‘Thus, in the second 
and third centuries after Christ, this dash system is found 
to be developed to a considerable degree. 

The same method of curtailing the endings of words 
may be traced in the Herculanean rolls, which must be 
at least as early as the first century of our era, together 
with certain monogrammatic forms, as 1 Ξε πρός, Y= 
χρόνος; and the scribes of the recently discovered papyrus 
of Aristotle’s work on the Constitution of Athens, of 


* See Flinders Petrie Papyri, ed. Mahaffy (Royal Irish 
Academy, Cunningham Memoirs), 1891; particularly No. xxiii. 

§ Dr. U. Wilcken, Observationes ad hist. Atgypti prov. Rom. 
Ῥ. 40), selects from the Paris Papyrus No. ὅ (Notices et Extraits 
des MSS., pl. xvi.), of the year 114.B.c., the following, among other, 
contractions, rp< = rpd[meCav], mroke” == πτολεμ[ αἰου], aoxAn = 
ἀσκληπ[ιάδηςἼ. In these we have the cursive form of a (<), of 
p (—), and of π (*), which we find in the most cursively written 
documents of the third ceatury B.¢. 


90 Paleography. 


about A.D. 100, employed a regular system of abbrevia- 
tion for prepositions and other words.’ In the papyri 
of succeeding centuries the same system is found at 
work. ‘To descend to a later period, the palimpsest frag- 
ments of the Iliad in uncial writing of the sixth century, 


in the British Museum, have several words curtailed, an 


s-shaped mark indicating the omitted endings. More 
numerous are the examples in the fragment, preserved 
at Milan, of a mathematical treatise of the seventh cen- 
tury, also written in uncials. In this MS., dealing with 
a subject in which technical expressions constantly occur, 
an opportunity for the full employment of abbreviations 
presented itself, and, accordingly, not only the ordinary 
abbreviated endings, but still more tachygraphical signs 
are used. From the analogy of later MSS. it may be 
taken for certain that all technical works, intended as 
they were rather for the student than for public reading, 
were subject to unrestrained contraction from very early 
times. In the few remaining Greek documents on 
papyrus of the seventh and eighth centuries, the same 
system is employed. Thus, when the flood of the literary 
minuscule writing of the ninth century suddenly rises 
and sweeps over the uncial, it naturally brings with it 
the old system of abbreviation which was still existent 
in the cursive hand from which that writing sprang. 
The history of that system, as we have seen, can be 
traced only imperfectly, from lack of material, and is, as 
it were, screened by the intervening system of the 
uncial biblical and liturgical MSS., which, by the fact of 
their surviving in fair numbers, have thrust themselves 
into more general notice. 

With the disuse of uncial writing, however, as the 


5. They are: }=termination a, ἃ τες ἀνά, y=ydp, δξεΞ δε, O= 
διά, κε εἶναι, /= ἐστί, 2 = εἰσί, θ΄-ΞΞ: θαι, κ' ---- καί, k= κατά, μ'Ξεμέν, 
po=perd, ο’Ξεοὖν, πὶ Ξεπαρά, π' ΞΞπερί or περ; ς᾽ Ξεσύν, τ᾿ Ξετήν, τ᾽ Ξετῆς, 
τ΄ Ξξτῶν, υ Ξεὑπέρ, υἱΞ-- ὑπό ; and also 3& = χρόνος, and the unusual 
᾿Ξ αὐτήν. Many of these abbreviations are used for syllables as 
well as for independent words. In addition, terminations are 
occasionally abbreviated with the over-written letter as paY= 
μάχην. 


ale ee ΠΝ. 


ἀν 


PEAS. , 


Abbreviations and Contractions. ΟΙ 


ordinary literary hand, the biblical system of contraction 
did not perish. The same scribes who had copied out 
the majuscule texts were now employed upon the new 
minuscule, and naturally introduced into the latter the 
contractions which they had been accustomed to write 
intheformer. In minuscule writing, therefore, from the 
ninth century onwards, any form of contraction or 
abbreviation may be looked for. At first, however, they 
were, in general, very sparingly used in the calligraphic 
MSS. of the period, although, when necessary, the 
apparatus was ready at hand to be applied, as in the case 
of marginal and interlinear scholia, where contractions 
were always more freely used than in the text of a MS. 
‘he horizontal stroke which marked contracted words in 
the biblical uncial texts served the same purpose in minu- 
scules ; it also distinguished letters which were used as 
numerals or special signs. But the ordinary terminal 
abbreviations were marked by an oblique stroke drawn 
under the line, as in αδ', Ξκεἀδελφός, ποχ! Ξξ- πόλεμος, 
although this stroke was also often dispensed with, and 
a mere flourish added to the over-written letter. This 
over-written letter was also subject to modifications, 
It was doubled occasionally to indicate a plural, as, 
παιδὸ! --- παίδων, o1t=atiyot. It was also in some in- 
stances the emphatic letter of the omitted portion of the 
word, as A¥/=Aéyewv, x7/=xaTa. And the arrangement 
of letters was sometimes inverted, as δ᾽ ξελόγος, ( Ξεὅσιος. 

But with the new minuscule writing also appears a 
further development of contraction in the use of certain 
signs, mostly tachygraphical, which are employed either 
as component parts of words, or as entire, independent 
words. They are employed to some extent also in late 
uncial MSS. They generally are found as terminations, 
but in MSS of the early minuscule period they are also 
used in the middle or at the beginning of words. For 
the most part, they are placed above the level of the 
words to which they belong; in a few instances they are 
pendent or in the line of writing. At the later period, 
when the writing became more cursive, these tachy- 
graphical signs were linked with the letters below them 


92 ᾿ Palxography, 


in a flourish. They also, even at an early date, show a 
disposition to combine with the accents, as in G which 
is the sign s (ns) combined witha circumflex. This com- 
bination begins in the twelfth century. 

We will now proceed to give these signs in the alpha- 
betical order of their meanings, beginning with the 
vowels. But it will assist the memory materially if it is 
borne in mind that, as in Greek tachygraphic writing 
one sign represented several syllables, different in spell- 
ing but phonetically the same, so the signs which we 
are now considering may be phonetically grouped. For 
example, in the two groups :— 

yn. KR ew. LK ὧν 
ς ἧς. SS εἰς,» δ᾽ ἐς; 
we see a sign representing a particular syllable differen- 
tiated by being doubled or marked to represent its 
homophones. The same system will be observed in 
other instances. 

a is early represented by the tachygraphical sign, 
a horizontal stroke —.6 It was written either above 
or in line with the preceding letter, as T or το, but in the 
latter position, to aid the eye, it received the addition 
of two dots, as T*, or, coalescing, 7. But this sign = 
thus dotted also indicated ta, as the two dots (:) were 
also the tachygraphical sign for 7. In course of time 
the construction was forgotten, and + was taken to mean 
simply a, and, last of all, the — dropped out, and the 
two dots remained to represent the letter, 

e is frequently represented by a short waved stroke, as 
in the word μέΞξεμεγα, and in participial terminations, as 
Aeyous =Aeyouwevos. ‘This sign resembling that for the 
diphthong αὐ, the two may be identical, e and as being 
tomophones. 

ἢ is also occasionally found in a similarly waved- 
stroke form, nearly always written in the line, as ἐπειδὲ, 
τὸν. 

tis very rarely represented by two dots (a late usage), 


6 This mark for a appears in abbreviations in papyri of the 
beginning of the third century. Wilcken, op. cié, 


ΞΕ ε.- 


Abbreviations and Contractions. 93 


@ appears in the tachygraphical form of a kind of 
circumflex, as dyye=davwye. 

at. The abbreviated sign of this termination is, in its 
earliest forms, an oblique or angular or s-shaped stroke, 
as x, «x; later, ordinarily a waved stroke, as «, (which 
was atterwards exaggerated into a flourish); sometimes 
V, as ἡμέρ" =1pepar, 

ats. The earlier sign was 2, as στήλ᾽ = στήλαις ; later 
>», as TavT”=Tavtais. This second form appears to be a 
doubling of the sign for es, a phonetic equivalent. 

av. An angular / and rounded ᾧ are found in early 
MSS. Then a further development in the curve took 
place, and a 6-shaped sign comes into use. 67! =dray, 
Tac=Tacay, Ti=Tav, γεννάδ' --- γεννάδαν. 

ap. The horizontal stroke —, for a,and a rin repre- 
senting p, were combined as the sign -Ὃ, as μἔτυρεῖΞξε 
μαρτυρεῖ. Or it was turned upwards, ἀμτιάν-ε ἀμαρτίαν ; 
or written in the line, as p+oTus= μαρτυς, with dots 
representing a. 

as. The constant sign wasJ,as στίχ' = στίχας; χρήσ"θαι 
Ξε χρήσασθαι. 

av. From a combination of —, for a, and the upsilon, 


comes the sign -y, as Gude — θαυμαξει. A rare sign 
is ἢ, as τοι τη = τοιαύτη. 

ew. At first was used a single sign A (i.e. also the sign 
for nv, a phonetic equivalent), as err ipev = ἐπιμένειν. 
Then this was doubled for distinction’s sake A/ ; after- 
wards one or both of the hooks are thrown off Δ {{ and 


finally the strokes are reduced in length yj, ia’ = 
εἰπεῖν, λείπ’ Ξελείπειν. 

εις. The sign s, which represents ys, was sometimes 
also used for εἰς ; more generally it was doubled, as 
Tu --- τιθεὶς. Another rare form is which appears to 
be the ordinary ligature of ε and ὁ with a cross stroke, 

εν. Anangle ZL, as ἢ τα μὲν, which afterwards took 
a more rounded form, as γέγον -ξΞ γέγονεν, degenera- 
ting at a later period into L, or even iuto a looped 
flourish like a wide a. The tachygraphic sign Ἢ is also 
occasionally found in use, 


94 Palzegraphy. 


ep. The oblique stroke, the tachygraphic sign for e, 
combines with a loop, for p, and makes the sign ὦ, as 
won’ --- ὥσπερ, cim=elrep. More rarely a bar is used 
as UT = ὕπερ, dont = ὥσπερ. 

es. The early sign was 2, as φώγοντ᾽ = φάγοντες. But 
two dots, representing tachigraphically the letter τ, 
being frequently added in the common termination τες, 
7, ἃ confusion between ἢ and 9 was the result, and at last 
j came to be used for es, as λύοντ᾽ = λύοντες, and super- 
seded the simple y. The sign, thus changed, varies 
occasionally in form as, 5 5 G. 

nv. The angular form A, as τ΄ apy = τὴν ἀρχὴν, Was 
sometimes curved, as τοιαυτ' ---τοιαύτην. Later it de- 
generated into A, A, as ἀρεῖ = ἀρετὴν. 

np. A not common sign 15 «Ὁ, as dv? = ἀνὴρ. 

ns. A sign resembling s, as tT—=7fs. This sign 
early combined with the circumflex as G. It is some- 
times doubled. 

ιν. The sign for ν was often uscd also for this ter- 
mination. It was also differentiated by two dots, thus, 
Taé~=Takw. It passed through the same stages of 
degeneration as its prototype. 

ts. The sign for ἧς was also used for ἐς. It was also 
differentiated by two dots, thus, αὖτ᾽ Ξε αὖτις. The signs 
for ἐς and ns are sometimes confused. 

os. A horizontal stroke terminating in an angular or 
round hook, -σ 3; λόγ᾽ =Acyos. In later MSS. the 
sign is subject to flourishing. In some instances the 
position is oblique, as τὸ -ε τοῖς, 

ov. The oblique stroke \, as λόγ =Adyov. The danger 
of confusion with the grave accent led to its being 
lengthened; but this eventually resulted in the lengthen- 
ing of the accent also,as tT‘=7ov. In late MSS. the 
sign degenerates into a flourish, or waved line. 

os. The tachygraphical sign for os is sometimes used, 
as Aoy==Aoyos; sometimes the uncial c, as ἔκαστοξξ 
ἔκαστος. 

ov, An early formy appears in a fow places, as 77 = 


Abbreviations and Contractions, 95 


τούτου ; this is afterwards curved, as T=7T0d. The form 
¥, which is not uncommon, is a monogram of the two 
letters. 

ουν. The o with a waved stroke beneath, as πού, c= 
ποιοῦντος, ἤγφΞεἤγουν. 

ovs. The sign 4, which is formed by combination of 

, , 7 iv” 

v=ou and ς; aS λόγηεξελόγους, ἵππ τ ἵππους. The 
double waved stroke * (as in εἰς) is also used : as ypov*= 
χρόνους ; also single, as αὐτ᾽ Ξεαὐτοὺς. 

wv. A sign resembling ἃ circumflex ; in early MSS., of 
small size, as TovtT=TovTwy; afterwards, a sweeping 
flourish, as διαφδῤ--: διαφορῶ. a 

wp. A not common sign» or ~, as 05° =vdwp, pnt = 
e;v 
eae ol = = e iA a 

ws. A curving line ©, ©, as οὕτ' =otTws, GTep= 
ὥσπερ. Later, the sign turns downwards,as καλῇ = καλῶς. 
_ Certain prepositions and particles are represented by 
special signs, as— 

ἀντί: 3, ἃ very rare sign. 

> δ Δ ᾽ . 

ἀπο: ἣχ and —, ; arare sign is 2),,. 

meee τ, 

διά: Δ, or A with a waved pendant. 


τ ὌΝ 


δ 

ἐπί: 4, the 1 being the cursive form of 7. 
iva: ἵ, 

΄ rT a 
κατάτω, Ut 2t:. 

/ 
m™pos: Z&, a 
ὑπέρ: %¥,or Y, 
e Pe a “ 
ὑπό: “ζ, Uv. 
παρά: 7, also as. 


γάρ: ἧς, or γ΄ +, 7S ; that is, gamma crossed with an 
inverted p, or with a bar or flourish. 


μέν: “σι. 

δέ: 7, which becomes round ). In course of time it 
was confused with the sign for es (7); hence the scribes © 
came to add dots. 

ἤγουν: ny. 


96 Palexography. 


καί, From the tachygraphical form 4 (κε) came tho 


sign $, which went through various changes : δὴ δὲ ὁ. 
ὁμοῦ : +, very rare. 

ὅτε : -g. & (the dots indicating the 7); also gf. 

ὥσπερ: ὥ. 

The auxiliary ἐστί or ἐστίν was represented by the 
tachygraphic ‘/. (ἐστῷ or “ (ἐστίν) ; but this distinction 
was not kept up. Later, from confusion with the sign 
for ἐν (/.), the position of the dots was altered, and the 
sign became /, which afterwards passed into the 
flourished style, on the pattern of the signs for ἣν and 
w. A double ἐστί, +//., was used for εἰσί; and in the 
same manner /Y or “2. Ξξεἰσίν. And, perhaps on the same 
analogy, Sv=elvau.’ The future éora is found in the 
forms > a 

Certain signs were also used for technical words, as 
ᾧ = ἀριθμός, C¢=apiOuol; ἃ, ἃ Ξεἴσος, ἴσοι; δ᾿ Ξεἐέλάσσων. 
And, finally, there were certain symbols for certain 
words, as @=«vxdos, ¢ ξεἡμέρα, 7 Ξενύξ, L=éros, (> = 
ἄρουρα, F, δ, ρῬΞ-εδραχμή, and others. 

Latin, 

Of Latin abbreviations the most ancient forms, as 
already stated, are those which consist of a single 
letter (nearly always the initial letter), representing the 
whole word. ‘The most ordinary instances of such 
single-letter abbreviations, or sigla, are those which 
indicate proper names, or titles, or words of common 
occurrence, and which are familiar to us, not only in the 
inscriptions on coins and monuments, but also in the 
texts of classical writers; being generally distinguished 
from other letters or words by the full point which is 
placed after them. The same system was followed in 
the middle ages and survives at the present day. 

But the representation of words by single letters 
could only be carried out to a certain limited extent. 
Obviously the same letter must do duty for many words 

7 In Pap. exxxvii., in the British Museum, probably of the 


2nd century, these forms are used: /= ἐστί, \ = εἶναι, Νὰ = cialis 
= a ν ya > »᾿ 
and ὃ for the feminine cases of the participle, οὖσα, οὔσης, ete. 


av 378s 


¥ PRR νυν: 1. 


τς es 


Abbreviations and Contractions. 97 


and confusion be the consequence. Hence arises a 
farther extension of the system: the use of special 
marks, or of two or more letters. The Romans wrote 
M’.= Manius, to distinguish that name from M.=Marcus ; 
Cn.—Gneus, to prevent confusion with C.—Gaius. These 
simple methods of abbreviation led on to others, the 
development of which can be traced in the early legal 
MSS., such as the Gaius of Verona, or the waxen 
tablets, and particularly in the “ Notarum Laterculi”’ or 
“ Note Juris ’—the lists of abbreviations used in the 
Roman law-books.? In these documents, as regards 
single-letter abbreviations, we find not only such forms 
as A.=aut, C.=causa, D.=dirus, E.=est, and so on, 
any of which might occur independently in a sentence, 
but also whole phrases, as, C. D. E. R. N. E.=cujus de 
ea re notio est, or A. T. Μ. Ὁ. O.=aio te mihi dare 
oportere, showing to what an extent this elementary 
system could be employed in books of a technical 
nature. Indeed, in technical works, single-letter 
phrases continued to be used in MSS. down to the 
invention of printing. But the inconvenience of such 
abbreviations is seen in such double meaningsas A.=cut 
or annus, C.=causa or circa, D.=dirus or dedit, F.= 
fecit or familia or fides. Yet the sense of the context 
might be depended upon for giving the correct inter- 
pretation, and confusion was also, in some instances, 
obviated by the addition of a distinguishing mark, such 
as a horizontal stroke placed above the letter or an apo- 
strophe or similar sign placed after it,as N=non, N’=nee. 
Therepresentation of words by two or more of their letters 
is seen in such abbreviations as IT =item, ACT.=actum, 
AN=aite, ED.=edictum, IMP=imperator, COM.= 
comes, KO=eorum, CUl=cujus, FU=fuit, in which the 
first letters of each word are written; or in such con- 
tractions as EXP=exemplum, OMB=omnibus, MMT= 
momentum, BR==lonorum, HD=heredem, where the 
salient letters are expressed, in some instances with a 


See in Keil, Grammatici Latini, iv. 265, the Noturum Later- 
οὐ, ed. Mommsen. 


8 


98 Patleography. 


view to indicating the inflections. From this latter 
method was developed the more systematic syllabic 
system, in which the leading letters of the syllables 
were expressed, as EG=ergo, aE =heres, QD=quidem, 
QB=quibus, QR=quare, S''=satis, MT—mentem, 
TM—tamen, SN=sine, BN=bene, DD=deinde, and the 
like, 

But still there remained the need of indicating in- 
flections and terminations more exactly than by this 
simple process. This want was supplied in the first 
place by the adoption of certain of the Tironian symbols 
—others of those shorthand signs being at the same 


time used for certain prepositions or prefixes—and also 
by smaller over-written letters, as Q=quo, V'=verum, 
H=hune, T—=tune. This over-writiug was not, how- 
ever, confined to the indication of terminations: it was 
also adopted for general use to mark leading letters, as in 


S=sint, N=noster, S=sors, and others. As will pre- 
sently be seen, it holds an important place in the scheme 
of later mediaeval contraction. 

The principles of the different methods sketched out 
above held good also throughout the later middle ages ; 
but of the simple letter-forms only a certain number 
survived. They were too arbitrary to be continued in 
general use, and more exact and convenient combina- 
tions and signs took their place. Even where they still 
survived in form their original meaning was sometimes 
superseded; e.g. the carts syllabic contraction TM= 
tamen under the later system becomes tantum. The 
period of transition from the old to the new system lies 
in the course of the eighth and ninth centuries, at the 
time when the Carlovingian schools were effecting their 
great reform in the handwriting of Europe, and had the 
authority to enforce the adoption of settled forms, By 
the eleventh century the later system had grown to full 
development. It reached its culminating point in the 
thirteenth century, the period when contraction was 
more excessively used than at any other; but after that 


—— 


2 


> ae 
as aa oa ἐξα 
Ψ 


ee me oP ὩΣ τ᾿ 
Abbreviations and Contractions. 99 


_ date marks and symbols are less rigidly formed and 
gradually degenerate into hasty dashes and flourishes. 
_ Having thus traced the general constraction of Latin 
abbreviation and contraction, we may now briefly 
notice the various signs and marks which are employed 
for this purpose in the MSS. of the middle ages. 
Abbreviated Latin words may be ranged in two 
classes: (1) Those in which the ending is suppressed, 
as fec=fecit; (2) Those in which letters are omitted 
from the middle, or from the middle and end, of the 
word, as ca—causa, 010—=omnino, prb=presbyter. To 
the first class the French have given the title “abbré- 
viations par suspension”’; we call them simply “abbre- 
viations,” and include among them those early forms, 
noticed above, which are composed of one, two, or more 
of the first letters of a word, and the numerous examples, 
particularly verbs, which, more especially in the ninth 
and teuth centuries, simply threw away the last syllable. 
The words in the second class are “ contractions,” being 
contracted by the omission of medial, or medial and final, 
letters. 
Marks or signs of abbreviation or contraction are 
either general er special. General signs are those which 
indicate the suppression of one or more letters without 
giving a direct clue to what such letters may be. Special 
signs indicate the suppression of particular letters. 
Among the latter must be also included overwritten 
letters which, in some instances, have im course of time 
changed their forms and have worn down into mere 
symbols. 
The earliest and simplest mark of abbreviation is the 
full point, usually placed on a level with the middle of 
the letter or letters of the abbreviated word as A-—auni, 
FF-—fratres, or—to give the commonest, and often the 
only, abbreviations in early majuscule MSS.—B-=(ter- 
mination) bus, Q==gue. In place of the full point, a 
colon or semicolon was next employed, as in B: B; Ὁ: Q;, 
and the latter, becoming the favourite form, grew, by 
rapid writing, into a 3-shaped sign, which appears from 
the eleventh century onwards as b3=bus, q3=¢u». 


λῳ.: wt, ae δι ες 
vet : 


100 Paleography. 


From its frequent recurrence in the latter common word 
it even came to represent the g as well as we, in compo- 
sition, as atz3=atque, nez=neque. But it was not con- 
fined to the representation of terminal ws and we; it 
also appears for termination et, as in deb3=debet, pts= 
placet, s3==set (i.e. sed): a survival of which is seen in 
the z in our common abbreviation viz.=videlicet. Ata 
later period it also represented final m, as in naz=nam, 
ite;=item, 1dez3—=7dem. 

‘he same 3-shaped sign likewise is found sometimes 
as the sign for est in composition, as in inter3=vnterest. 
But here it has a different derivation, being a cursive 
rendering of the symbol +=est. 

The horizontal stroke is the most general mark both 
of abbreviation and contraction, and in both uses it 
may indicate the omission of many letters. We have 
seen it in use in the “ Note Juris.” It is usually either 
a straight or a waved line. In early carefully-written 
MSS. it is ornamentally formed with hooks at the 
ends —. In the case of charters, it is sometimes fanci- 
fully shaped, as an oblique crotchet, or as a loop or knot. 
In its'simplest use as a mark of abbreviation 1t is found 
in majuscule MSS. at the end (rarely in the body) of a 
line to indicate omission of final M or N. It was placed 
above the line, at first to the right,as AUTH” =autem ; 
and in some instances a point was added to distinguish 
omission of M from omission of N, as ΕΝ enim, 
NO~=non. Afterwards the simple stroke was placed 
above the last letter, as ENI, NO. 

Analogous to the horizontal stroke is the oblique 
stroke, which takes the place of the horizontal chiefly in 
words in which the tall minuscule letters Ὁ and | occur, as 
apti=apostoli, mtto=multo, lite=lbere, proct=procul. 

Of the same class is the waved vertical stroke (some- 
times in the form of a curve rising from the preceding 
letter), often used to signify the omission of er or re ; as 
bsuiter—=breviter, ctus=—certus. 

Less frequent, because it dropped out of general use, 
is the final oblique stroke, also found in the earlher 
abbreviations, usually for termimations us, wr, wm 


ee δι “« 


Abbreviations and Contractions. IOI 


(after r), as anp=anus, amam,z=amamus, amat? = 
amatur, rea.=rerum. Of these, the last termination ruin 
continued to be represented in this way, especially in 
words in the genitive plural.® 

Another general sign of early use was the round curve 
or comma above the line, which, as late as the ninth cen- 
tury, continued to represent the terminations wr, 08, us, 
In later MSS. the curve alone was retained to indicate 
the termination ws (sometimes os), and so became a 
special sign (see below). 

A long drooping stroke attached to the end of a word 
is often found as a general sign to indicate the omission 
of any termination. It is, however, specially used for 
termination zis. In the fourteenth century it develops 
into a loop, as dict? =dictis. 

A sign nearly resembling an inverted ¢ or the numeral 
9, Tironian in its origin, usually signifies the syllable con 
or com, also more rarely cun or cum, as Qdo=condo, 
Qmunis=communts, cirgscriptus=circumscriptus, gcti= 
cuncti."° It always stands in the line of writing. A 
similar sign (to which reference has already been made), 
above the line, represents the termination ws, as bon’= 


bonus ; also more rarely os, as n =r0s, p°t=post. Inthe 
last word it is sometimes used for the whole termination 
ost, as p®. 


A sign somewhat resembling the numeral 2 placed 
obliquely 2, also derived from a Tironian note, is written 
for the termination ur, as amat® =amatur. It is alsc 
placed horizontally, as fert?=/fertur. Being commonly 
employed in the case of verbs, it also sometimes stands 
for the whole termination tur, as ama?, 

The letter p having a curve drawn through the down 
stroke, p, is to be read pro. In Visigothic MSS., however, 
it signifies per, very rarely pro, which is usually in such 
MSS. written in full. P crossed with a horizontal bar, 


A curious result of the use of this sign is seen in the second 
name for Salisbury, “Sarum.” The Latin Sarisburia in abbre- 
viated form was written Sat, and came to be read Sarum. 

” The letter ὁ surmounted by a horizontal line also represents 
con. 


ΙΟ2 Paleography. 


p, 1s per, also par, por, as ptem=partem, optet, =oportet. 
The same letter with a horizontal or waved oblique 
stroke or curve placed above it (when not at the end of 
a word) becomes pre, as psertim=presertim, p’bet= 
prebet. 

The following conventional signs, mostly derived 
from Tironian notes, are also used with more or less 
frequency :— 

K=autem, >=ejus, = = esse, +-=est (which degene- 
rates into a 3-shaped sign: see above), B=per, 7=et 
7 =etiam, Wy (later ++ and -++ and thence -n-)=enim, 
1=1d est, t=vel, @=obiit, obitus, ¥ and u=ut. 

In this place may also be noticed the Latin contracted 
form of our Lord’s name. The name of Jesus Christ 
was always written in Greek letters by medieval scribes, 
and in contracted form it appeared in majuscule MSS. 
thus: IHC XPC, in Greek uncials. When these words 
had to be written in minuscule letters, the scribes treated 
them as purely Latin words written in Latin letters, 
and transcribed them ihc (or ihs) xpc. Hence arose the 
idea that the form Ihesus was the correct one, and by 
false analogy the letter h was introduced into other 
proper names, as Iherusalem, Iheronimus. Similarly 
the terminating letter c, for s, was carried over by 
scribes to other words, as epc=episcopus, spe=spiritus, 
tpc=tempus. 

Most ordinarily, over-written letters are vowels, to 
which the letter r has to be supplied to solve the read- 
ing, as o*tia=gratia, cta=carta, t*s=tres, uoba=verba, 
por=prior, u'tus=virtus, ag°’s=agros, c’pus=corpus, 
p"dens=prudens, t'ris=turris. The more usual con- 
tractions of this character are those in which the r pre- 
cedes the vowel. Other letters may also be understood, 
as in q*=gua, bo*=bona, qibus=quibus, m'=mili, m°= 
modo. The letter a when over-written frequently takes 
the open form (w) which degenerates into a mere zigzag 
horizontal line or flattened u (#). 

When consonants are over-written the number of 
letters to be supplied is quite uncertain: a single vowel 
is omitted in such words as n°=nec, h°=hic; several 


- Ἦν 8 


Veer) Va 


Abbreviations and Contractions. 103 


letters are understood in such a contraction as p'=potest. 
The over-written consonant is usually the last letter of 
the word. 

In some instances two or more letters are over- 
written as hu’*=hujusmodi, incorp’*=incorporales ; but 
such full forms are seldom wanted. 

By metathesis, the contractions of certain common 
words, in which the letter g is prominent, take a special 
form, as οἱ and ge" =igitur, g*=erga, g°=ergo. 

The amount of contraction in a MS. depended to a 
considerable extent upon the character of the text. As 
has been already observed, technical books were more 
contracted than works of general literature. In MSS. 
written in majuscule letters, and particularly in biblical 
and liturgical codices, which were specially required for 
public reading, the contractions are very few: the 
omission of final M or N, Q'=que, B-=bus, QM or 
QNM=quoniam, DS=Deus and its inflections, DMS or 
DNS=Dominus and its inflections, the name of our 
Lord (see above), SCS=sanctus, SPS=spiritus, and a 
few other common words. With the introduction of 
minuscule writing for the book-hand, and when MSS. 
were employed for private use, there was more scope for 
this convenient system of saving labour and space; but 
in works intended for popular use there was seldom an 
excess of contraction or the employment of arbitrary 
forms such as to render the reading of the text difficult. 
When once the elements and principles of the system 
are understood, and the eye has been fairly practised, 
no ordinary MS. will present difficulties to the reader. 
As regards texts written in the vernacular languages of 
those countries of Europe which have adopted the 
Roman alphabet, it will be found that contractions 
are more rarely used in them than in MSS. written 
in Latin. A system suited to the inflections and 


1 With regard to over-written s, it may be noted that in Visi- 
gothic writing a sign resembling that letter is used in the word 
αὐ que, which however is derived from the cursive form of over- 
written τι. 


104 Palxography. 


terminations of this language could not be well adapted 
to other languages so different in their structure, 


Numerals. 


In Greek MSS. we find two systems of expressing 
numbers by signs, both being taken from the alphabet. 
It appears to have been the older practice to use the 


initial letter of the name of the number for its symbol, — 


as TT tor 5, A for 10, H (aspirate) for 100, X for 1000, 
M tor 10,000. This has been called the Herodian 


system, after the name of the grammarian who described | 


it. Itis found in use in the papyri, especially in the 
stychometrical memoranda of the numbers of the lines 
contained in them; and such notes are also found 
transmitted to vellum MSS. of the middle ages. 

The other system was to take the first nine letters of 
the alphabet for the units, and the res¢ for the tens and 
hundreds, disused letters being still retained for numera- 
tion, viz., F, digamma, for 6, which in its early form 
appears as G or s, and afterwards, in the middle ages, 
becomes 4, like the combined o and τ or stigma; 
G, koppa, for 90; and a symbol derived from the old 
letter san, which appears in papyri?as T' or , and at 
later periods as % which, from its partial resemblance 
to pt, was called sampi (=san+pz), for 900. This 
system was in full use in the third century 8.6. 

The practice of numbering the successive books of a 
work, as e.g. the twenty-four books of the Iliad, by the 
successive letters of the alphabet, is hardly a system 
of numeration in the proper sense of the word. In 
certain cases, we find it convenient to make use of 
our alphabet in a somewhat similar way, to mark a 
series. 

The numerals were usually distinguished from the 
letters of the text by a horizontal stroke: thus a. To 


ἢ See e.g. Cat. of Greek Papyri in the Brit. Mus., pp. 47, 55. 


Abbreviations and Contractions. 105 


indicate thousands a stroke was added to the left of the 
numeral: thus 4“ -Ξ 8000 ; which at a later period was 
detached, thus I, Dots were sometimes added to indi- 
cate tens of thousands, as a, - “A., -B.. Special symbols 
were sometimes used for fractions, sometimes an accent 
or a line above the numeral sas the fraction: as 
vor C=}, y=, uf =$+3=3, γε 3, U=4, etc. Theo 
which appears for the numerator in 3 sf derived from the 
cursive form of §, and is found in other combinations in 
papyri. The 6 for 3 also appears in form of a Roman d; 
and ἕξ is represented by a variant of it, εἰ. The symbols 
—, =, f, Ff, Ε,, stand for obols, from one to five. 

The Roman system of numerals was used throughout 
the middle ages (and, indeed, it lasts to our own day), 
and was not displaced by the introduction of the Arabic 
system, although the latter, from its convenience, was 
widely adopted. The Roman system was continued as 
the more official, and money accounts were calculated in 
its numerals. 

This is not the place to discuss the origin of the 
Roman numerals ; it is sufficient to say that the system 
was not an alphabetical one, for, although C (100) 
has heen said to be the first letter of centwm and M 
(1000) the first letter of mille, both these signs had a 
different derivation, and by a natural process only took 
the forms of the letters which they resembled most 
nearly,” 

To distinguish the numerals from the letters of the 
text they were placed between points: thus -XL-. Be- 
sides the ordinary method of indicating thousands by 
repetitions of M, units with horizontal strokes above were 
also employed for the purpose: thus, -I., -II., -III-, ete. 
Certain special signs occur insome MSS.: as the Visigothic 
T=1000, and X° =40, and the rot very uncommon 
sign G=6 which has been derived from the Greek 
symbol, but which may be only a combination of 


See Zangemeister, Entstehung der rimischen Zahlzeichen, 
in the Sitzb. der k. Preussischen Akademie, 1887. 


in form since their first introduction, the greatest 


"4 _ ) ἣν > ΤΣ ΠΩ ° 
7 ἢ ᾿ ᾿ ΟὟ 
- δὺς 
pays 2 . . 
ont ~. + ᾿ er ie 
ao u { 
= ὡς 


Paleography. ; a 


U (V) and I. A cross stroke traversing a nu 
sometimes indicates reduction by half a unit, as 
25, %= 0b, =e Ie 

‘Arabic nurnerala first. appear in European MSS. in 
the tweifth century, their early use being pee ΓΕ ᾿ 
mathematical works; by the fourteenth century thegae ᾿ 
had become universal, They have not much changed ~ 


difference from the modern shapes being seen in Q=4, 
and ἢ -Ξῦ. 


ἘΦ ΨΥ 


Ϊ 
τ 
€ 


CHAPTER VIII. 


GREEK PALZOGRAPHY. 
Papyri. 


Tue first discovery of Greek papyri in Egypt took place 
in the year 1778, when fifty rolls were found in the neigh- 
bourhood of Memphis. Unfortunately, ail but one were 
carelessly destroyed; the survivor was presented to 
Cardinal Stefano Borgia, under whose auspices it was 
published in 1788, Charta papyracea Muset Borgiant 
Velitru, by Schow. It is of the year 191 after Christ. 
This find was followed early in the present century by 
the discovery of a collection, enclosed, according to the 
stary of the Arabs who found it, in a single vessel, on 
the site of the Serapeum or temple of Serapis at 
Memphis. The finders divided the hoard among them- 
selves, and hence the collection found its way piecemeal 
into different libraries of western Europe. Paris secured 
the largest number, which have been published, with an 
atlas of facsimiles, in the Notices et Extraits des Manu- 
scrits de la Bibliothéque Impériale, etc., vol. xvii., 1865. 
A certain number fell to the share of the British 
Museum, and will be published in the Catalogue of 
Greek Papyri in the British Museum. Some are in the 
Vatican, and others are at Leyden. 

The larger number of the documents thus brought to 
light have perpetuated a little domestic romance, and 
have preserved the memory of two poor twin sisters and 
the wrongs they endured in the second century B.c. 
Thaues and Thaus were the daughters of a native of 
Memphis, who in an unhappy hour married a woman 
named Nephoris. Deserted by her, and maltreated by 


oe ee eg 
+. re =f J 


108 Palexography. 


her paramour, he fled away and died; and the twins were 
forthwith turned out of doors. But a friend was at 
hand. Among the recluses of the temple of Serapis 
was one Ptolemy, son of Glaucias, a Macedonian by 
birth, whose father had settled in the nome of Hera- 
cleopolis, and who had entered on his life of seclusion in 
the year 173 B.c. Asan old friend of their father, he 
now came forward and obtained for the two girls a place 
in the temple. Their duties, upon which they entered 
in the year 165 B.c., included the offering of libations to 
the gods, a service which entitled them to certain 
allowances of oil and bread. All went well for a briet 
81x months, but then the supplies began to fall into 
arrears. ‘The poor twins tried in vain to get their rights, 
and their appeals to the subordinate officials, who had 
probably diverted the allowances to their own use, were 
disregarded, Again the good Ptolemy caine to the 
rescue and took the matter in hand; and very per- 
tinaceously did he pursue the claims, Petition after 
petition issued from his ready pen. Appeals to the 
governor; appeals to the king; reference to one official 
was referred again to another, who in his turn, passed it 
on to a third; reports were returned, duly docketed, 
and pigeon-holed; again they were called for, and the 
game was carried on in a way which would do credit to 
the government offices of the most civilized nation. But 
Ptolemy was not to be beaten. We know that he at 
length succeeded in getting for the twins payment of a 
large portion of arrears, and at the moment when the 
documents cease he is still left fighting. That his 
efforts were eventually crowned with a full success we 
cannot doubt; and thus ends the story of the twins. 
These documents, then, and certain others including 
other petitions and documents of the persistent Ptolemy, 
form the bulk of the collection which was found on the site 
of the Serapeum at Memphis. Its paleeographical value 
cannot be too highly estimated. Here, thanks chiefly to 
the ready pen of an obscure recluse, a fairly numerous 
series of documents bearing dates in the second century 
B.c. has descended to us. If the sands of Egypt had 


; 
ἣν» 
; 


Greck Patxography. 109 


preserved a collection of such trivial intrinsic importance, 
probably from the accident of its being buried in the 
tomb of the man who had written so many of its docu- 
meuts, what might not be looked for if the last resting- 
place of a scholar were found? ‘The expectations that 
papyri inscribed with the works of Greek classical 
suthors, and written in Egypt or imported thither 
during the reigns of the Ptolemies or in the Roman 
period, would sooner or later come to light gradually 
began to be realized. 

Several papyri containing books, or fragments of 
books, of Homer’s Iliad have been recovered. The most 
ancient appears to be the one (the “ Harris Homer”’) 
containing a large portion of Book xviii., which was 
found in 1849-1850 by Mr. A. C. Harris, in the Crocodile 
Pit at Ma‘abdeh, in the Favoum, and is now in the 
British Museum (Cat. Anc. MSS.,i. pl. 1; Pal. Soc. ii. 
pl. 64). Τῦ 15 probably of the lst century 5.0. Of later 
date is the “Bankes Homer,” containing the greater 
part of Book xxiv., which was bought at Elephantine by 
the traveller William Bankes, and is also in the British 
Museum (Cat. Anc. MSS., i. pl. 6; Pal. Soc. ii. pl. 153). 
A third important MS. of Homer, which has also lately 
found its way into the national collection (Brit, Mus., 
Papyrus cxxvi.), is the papyrus in form of a book, in- 
scribed on the front of each leaf with the Iliad, from line 
101 of Book nu. to line 40 of Book iv., the longest portion 
of the poem that has hitherto been found on papyrus. 
It was discovered in the same Crocodile Pit as the 
Harris Homer, and also belonged to Mr. Harris. It is 
not, however, of early date, being probably as late as 
the 4th century; but it has a special interest from 
the existence, on the back of three of the leaves, of a 
portion of a treatise on Greek grammar, which gives an 
outline of various parts of speech, and which bears in its 
title the name of Tryphon, a grammarian who flourished 
in the latter half of the first century B.c. ‘The treatise, 
however, is probably only an abstract of the work of that 
writer. Besides these comparatively perfect Homeric 
papyri, there are others of a more fragmentary character: 


110 Paleograbiy. 


as the British Museum papyrus exxviil., containing 
considerable portions of the Iliad, Books xxiii. and 
xxiv., and the fragments in the Louvre of Books 
vi., xil., and xvii. (Not, et Evtr., vl. xii., xlix.), all of an 
early period; of later date, papyri cxxvii. and cxxxvi. in 
the British Museum, containing portions of Books iii, iv., 
v., vi., and xviii. Lastly there are the fragments of Book i. 
in large characters, perhaps as late as the fifth or sixth 
century, found by Mr. Flinders Petrie at Hawara, and 
presented to the Bodleian Library (Hawara, etc., ed. 
Petrie, 1889, pl. xxii.). 

An important addition has been made to classical 
literature by the recovery of several of the orations of 
the Athenian orator Hyperides. The papyrus containing 
his orations for Lycophron and Euxenippus is in un- 
usually good condition and measures eleven feet in 
length. It may be of the Ist century Bc. Other 
portions of the same roll contain fragments of his oration 
against Demosthenes (see editions of Professor Babington, 
1850, 1853; Cat. Ane. MSS., i. pl. 2, 8; Pal. Soc, 1. 
pl. 126). A fourth work of the same author is the 
funeral oration which he delivered over the Athenian 
general Leosthenes and his comrades, who fell in the 
Lamian war in 929 8.6. (ed. Babington, 1858). The date 
of this text was formerly placed in the Ist or 2nd 
century B.c.; a horoscope of a person born in AD. 99 
being inscribed on the other side of the papyrus. But 
it has now been proved that the oration is on the verso 
side of the papyrus (7.e. the side on which the fibres run — 
vertically), and therefore was written subsequently to 
the horoscope; and, further, the faults in orthography 
and the rough character of the writing have led to the 
conclusion that it is a student’s exercise. All the papyri 
of Hyperides just enumerated are in tbe British Museum, 
and in a collection of documents recently acquired by 
the trustees there has also been found the concluding 
portion of an oration, which is believed to belong to the 
speech against Philippides, in writing earlier than the 
Christian era, The Museum of the Louvre has also 
purchased lately an important papyrus of the period of 


Greek Palxography. I1I 


the Ptolemies, in which is a work which is identified as 
an oration of Hyperides against Athenogenes (Rerue 
Egyptologique, 1892). When it is borne in mind that 
none of the works of this orator was known to have 
survived until the reappearance of these long-buried 
papyrus rolls, the significance of the recovery of a lost 
author and the promise which was thus held out of 
possibly greater prizes have accustomed the world to be 
ever on the look-out for the “ semper aliquid novi” from 
Africa, 

The large collection of papyrus documents and 
fragments which a few years ago passed into the pos- 
session of the Archduke Rainer attracted considerable 
attention, Slowly, and with the expenditure of much 
patience and skill, they are being deciphered and 
published, But sifted, as they chiefly are, from the sand 
and light soil of the Fayoum, the rags and tatters of 
ancient dust-bins, they could not be expected to yield 
any text of considerable extent. A fragment of Thucy- 
dides has come to light (Wiener Studien, vii. 1885), and 
other such pieces may yet be found. But they would 
rank only with such discoveries as that of the fragment 
of the writings of the poet Aleman, now in the Louvre 
(Not. et Extr., pl. 1.), whetting the appetite it is true, but 
adding very little to the stock of Greek literature. The 
Rainer collection is, however, of very great paleo- 
graphical importance. It covers a wide period, and 
illustrates in particular the writing of the early centuries 
of our era, of which we have hitherto had but scanty 
examples. 

But the most important recent discovery that has been 
made, as far as paleeography is concerned, is that of Mr. 
Flinders Petrie at the village of Gurob in the Fayoum. 
Here he found that the cartonnage coffins which he 
obtained from the necropolis were composed of papyri 
pasted together in layers, fortunately not in all instances 
too effectively. The result of careful separation has been 
that a large number of documents dated in the third 
century B.c. have been recovered. These, together 
with a few of the same century which are scattered in 


112 Paleography. 


different libraries of Europe, and whose early date had 
not in some instances been hitherto recognized, are the 
most ancient specimens of Greek writing (as distinguished 
from sculptured inscriptions) in existence above ground. 
Besides miscellaneous documents, there are not incon- 
siderable remains of registers of wills, entered up from 
time to time, and thus presenting us with a variety of 
different handwritings as practised under the early 
Ptolemies. Still more interesting in a literary aspect 
are the fragments of the Phedo of Plato, and of the lost 
play, the Antiope, of Euripides, which have happily been 
gleaned from the Gurob mummy-cases. The tragedians 
had already been represented by the finding some years 
ago of a fragment of papyrus, on which were written 
some lines supposed to come from the Temenides of 
Kuripides, and others from the Medxa (H. Weil, Un 
papyrus inédit de la Bibl. de M. A. Firmin-Didot, 1879) ; 
and the date of the writing is at least as old as the 
year 161 Bc. But by the recovery of the classical frag- 
ments at Gurob, we are brought within almost measurable 
distance of the authors. Indeed, this copy of the Phzdo, 
written, as there is good reason to believe, within a 
hundred years of the death of Plato, can hardly differ in 
appearance, in a very material degree, from the copies 
which were published in his lifetime. The only other 
extant document that can be compared, as regards style 
of writing, with these fragments, is the papyrus at 
Vienna, inscribed with an invocation of a certain 
Artemisia, which has been ascribed to the 4th century, 
and may with certainty be placed as early as the 
first half of the 38rd century zB.c. It will be noticed 
below. 

These discoveries, of such inestimable value for the 
history both of Greek paleeography and of Greek litera- 
ture, had been scarcely announced, when the world was 
astonished by the appearance of a copy, written about 
the end of the first or beginning of the second century, 


1 A selection of these papyri has been recently published in 
the Cunningham Memoirs ot the Royal Irish Academy (On the 
Flinders Petrie Papyri, by Rev. J. P. Mahaffy, 1891). 


Greek Palxography. 113 


of Aristotle’s treatise on the Constitution of Athens, 
the [lo\teia τῶν ᾿Αθηναίων, a work which had vanished 
from sight more thana thousand yearsago, The papyrus 
containing this valuable text came into possession of 
the British Museum in the course of the year 1890. 
Like the Funeral Oration of Hyperides, the work is 
written on the back of a disused document, the account- 
roll of a farm bailiff in the district of Hermopolis in 
Egypt, rendered in the reign of Vespasian, A.D. 78-79. 
Four hands were employed in the transcription, the first 
of which is probably that of the scholar who desired the 
copy for his own use; for a text written so roughly, 
and that, too, on the back of a waste papyrus, would 
have had no sale in the market. This recovery of a lost 
classic of such traditional fame has cast into the shade 
all previous finds of this nature, however important 
many of them have been; and there is every reason to 
hope that the more systematic and careful exploration of 
Egypt in our days may achieve still greater results. By 
the side of the work of Aristotle, other papyri which 
have lately passed into the British Museum, containing 
fragments of works of Demosthenes, of the 2nd or 
lst century B.c., and of Isocrates of the Ist century 
after Christ, may appear insignificant; but the acquisi- 
tion of a papyrus of fair length, restoring to us some 
of the lost poems of the iambographer Herodas, who 
flourished in the first century B.c., is one more welcome 
addition to the long lost Greek literature which is again 
emerging into light.” 

Outside of Egypt, Herculaneum is the only place in 
which Greek papyri have been found, Here, in a house 
which was excavated in the year 1752, a number of 
charred rolls were discovered, which were at first taken 
for pieces of charcoal, many being destroyed before 


? Aristotle's Πολιτεία has been published, together with an 
autotype facsimile of the papyrus; and the poems of Herodas, 
with collations of other papyri, are printed in Classical Texts 
from Papyri in the British Museum, 1891: both works edited by 
Ἐς G. Kenyon for the Trustees of the British Museum. A facsimile 
of the papyrus of Hervudas has 11s Leen issued. 

9 


114 Palxography. 


their real nature was recognized. Almost immediately 
attempts were made to unroll them; and with more or 
less success the work has been carried on, at intervals, 
down to the present day. The process is a difficult one; 
the hardened crust, into which the outer portion of the 
rolls has been converted by the action of the heated 
ashes which buried the devoted city, must be removed 
before the inner and less injured layers can be reached, 
and so fragile are these that the most skilful and patient 
handling is required to separate them without irreparably 
injuring the remains. Copies of the texts recovered have 
been engraved and published in the series of volumes, 
the Herculanensia Volumina, printed at Naples. 

In the year 1800, the Prince of Wales, afterwards 
George the Fourth, undertook the expense of unrolling 
and copying the papyri; but the work was interrupted 
by the French invasion of 1806. The tracings and 
copper-plates which had been prepared by his agent 
were presented by the Prince to the University of 
Oxford in 1810, together with a few unopened rolls, 
part of a number which had been given to him by the 
Neapolitan Government. Four of the rest and the 
unrolled fragments of a fifth were subsequently pre- 
sented by the Queen to the British Museum in 1866. 
In 1824 and 1825 two volumes of lithographs of some 
of the Oxford facsimiles were published; and recently, 
in 1885, others have been given in the fragmenta 
Herculanensia of Mr. Walter Scott. 

But none of the facsimiles in these publications can 
be considered sufficient for palzeographical study, and 
unfortunately the blackened condition of the rolls is 
such that little can be done by the agency of photo- 
graphy. ‘Two autotype plates copied from some of the 
original fragments, will be found in the facsimiles of 
the Paleographical Society (1. pl. 151, 152). 

Of the rolls which have been opened, a large pro- 
portion are found to contain works of the Hpicurean 
Philodemus, while others are the writings of Hpicurus 
and the leading members of his school. From the fact 
that several of Philodemus’s works are in duplicate, 


Greek Palxography. 115 


it has been suggested that the principal part of the 
collection was formed by Philodemus himself, and that the 
house in which it was found was that of L. Calpur- 
nius Piso Czesoninus, the patron of the philosopher and 
the father-in-law of Julius Cesar. However this may be, 
the date of the destruction of Herculaneum, a.p 79, 
forms a_posterior limit for the age of the papyri. 
Roughly, then, their period may be fixed at the end 
of the first century B.c or the beginning of the first 
century of the Christian era. 


The Antiquity of Greek Writing. 


The most important lesson which we, as paleographers, 
learn from these ancient papyri is, that throughout ail 
periods, as far back as we can reach, we have side by 
side two classes of Greek writing: the Literary or Book. 
hand, in which works of literature were usually (but 
not always) written, and the Cursive hand of every-day 
life ; that, however remote the date of these documents, 
we find in them evidence that then all sorts and con- 
ditions of men wrote as fluently as we do now; that the 
seribe of those days could produce as finely written 
texts as the scribe of later times; and that the educated 
or professional man could note down records of daily 
business with as much facility as any of their de- 
scendants. And if we find these evidences of a wide- 
spread knowledge of Greek writing so far back as tie 
third century B.c., and writing, too, of a kind which 
bears on its face the stamp of matured development, 
the question naturally arises, to what remote period are 
we to assign the first stage of Greek writing, not ina 
primitive condition, but so far developed as to be a 
practical means of intercourse. ‘There has hitherto 


rather been a tendency to regard the earliest existing - 


Greek inscriptions as the first painful efforts of unskilled 
hands. But it is far more natural to suppose that, 
almost simultaneously with the adoption of an alphabet, 
the keen-witted Greek trader must have profited by 
the example of Egyptian and Phcenician and have 
soon learnt how to express himself in writing. It 15 


π΄ ἔστααν ταις eee 


116 Palxography. 


impossible at least to doubt that the Greek mercenaries 
who were able to cut so skilfully not only their names 
but also longer inscriptions on the statue of Abu Simbel 
some 600 years B.c., were perfectly able to write fluently 
with the pen. 

But without speculating further on this subject, we 
may rest content with the fact that in the papyri of the 
third century B.c. we have styles of writing so confirmed 
in their character that we have no difficulty in forming 
an approximate idea of the character of the writing of 
the best classical period of Greece. Indeed, judging by 
the comparatively slow changes which passed over Greek 
writing in the hundred years from the third to the 
second century B.c., we probably have before us, in our 
oldest specimens, both literary and cursive, styles not 
very different from those of a hundred years earlier. 


Divisions of Greek Paleography. 


It will here be convenient to state the plan adopted 
in the following sketch of the progress of Greek writing. 

The courses of the two styles of writing, which have 
already been referred to as the Literary hand or Book- 
hand and the Cursive hand, will be kept distinct for 
the earler centuries, previous to the adoption of the 
minuscule as a literary hand in the ninth century. 
Again, a general distinction will be observed between 
MSS. written on papyrus (as well as examples on pottery 
or wax) and MSS. written on vellum. The examples of 
the book-hand on papyrus will first be considered ; next, 
the cursive writing on the same material. Then the 
history of the uncial hand on vellum will be traced; 
and, lastly, the long series of medieval minuscule MSS,, 
coming down to the sixteenth century, will be examined, 

It will be observed that cursive writing is here only 
specially dealt with under the early period. Although 
the cursive writing of the day was moulded into a settled 
style to serve as a book-hand in the ninth century, it 
naturally still continued in use as a current hand in the 
ordinary affairs of life; and, if sufficient independent 


Greek Palxography. 117 


material had survived, this current hand would have 
formed a separate division of the subject. But no such 
material exists. We have no great collections of Greek 
charters and documents cursively written, such as we 
have in Latin. We must therefore look for the traces 
of the progress of the Greek cursive hand in the more 
hastily written minuscule literary MSS. of successive 
centuries. 

The different terms which are used to describe various 
styles of letters may here be explained In both Greek 
and Latin paleography, large letters are called ‘‘ majus- 
cules”; small letters, ‘‘ minuscules.” Of large letters 
there are two kinds: Capitals, or large letters, formed, 
as in inscriptions, chiefly by strokes meeting at angles 
and avoiding curves, except where the actual forms of 
the letters absolutely require them, angular characters 
being more easily cut with the tool on hard substances 
such as stone or metal; and Uncials, a modification of 
capitals, in which curves are freely introduced as being 
more readily inscribed with the pen on soft material 
such as papyrus. For example, the fifth letter is E as 
a capital, and € as anuncial. The term “uncial” first 
appears in St. Jerome’s Preface to the Book of Job, and 
is there applied to Latin letters, “ uncialibus, ut vulgo 
aiunt, litteris,’ but the derivation of the word is not 
decided ; we know, however, that it refers to the alphabet 
of curved forms, 

In early Greek papyri, as well asin early vellum MSS., 
the ordinary character in use is the uncial. As will be 
presently seen, in some of the very earliest specimens 
on papyrus certain of the letters still retain the capital 
forms of inscriptions. These instances, however, are 
rare. At the earliest period of Greek writing of which 
we have knowledge the uncial character was, no doubt, 
quite developed. 

Minuscule, or small, letters are derived from majus- 
cules; but, although in early cursive specimens we find 
at once certain forms from which the later minuscules 
directly grew, a full minuscule alphabet was only slowly 


developed. 


CHAPTER IX. 


GREEK PALEOGRAPHY—CONTINUED. 
The Literary or Book-Hand in Papyri. 


Our first division of Greek writing is the Literary or 
Book-hand in papyri. It is not, however, to be under- 
stood that all surviving literary remains are written in 
this hand; for there are exceptions, certain works haying 
been copied out, apparently, by scholars for their own 
use, or at least by persons not writing for the book 
trade, in less formal hands which we must class as 
cursive. ‘There is, indeed, in the case of the early papyri, 


some difficulty in drawing the line of division between - 


the literary hand and the cursive hand, certain docu- 
ments being written with sufficient care to give them a 
claim to be separated from the cursives and yet with 
not enough formality to. be included under the book- 
hand. On the other hand, there are one or two instances 
of the formal hterary hand being used for ordinary 
documents. We would define the literary hand to be 
that which professional scribes would employ in writing 
books for the market; and in the following review of 
this division, only such MSS. are noticed as are thus 
formally written, together with one or two (not literary) 
documents in which this class of hand is adopted. 

The earliest surviving specimens of Greek writing of 
the book-hand are contained in the papyrus fragment 
in the Imperial Library at Vienna, which is inscribed 
with an invocation of a certain Artemisia against the 
father of her child, and in the fragments of the Phedo 


a 


Greek Paleography. 119 


of Plato and the Antiope of Euripides, recently discovered 
at Gurob.’ 

The invocation of Artemisia? may be placed at least 
as early as the first half of the third century B.c. This 
ascription is supported by the similarity of the hand- 
writing of the other fragments mentioned above, which 
there is every reason to believe are nearly of the same 
period. The writing approaches the epigraphic style, 
the letters standing quite distinct and unconnected, and 
some of them showing transitional forms. 


ΝΠ ΥΩ 
jeCONTATHPKA 
KATTHSOHKHE IME Ney 
DEY MEXSYH AA)KAEME 
PMITYAEIW EKMA AAA @ 
KATAP OH C ENOYTAKE 


PAPYRUS OF ARTEMISIA—3RD CENTURY B.C. 


(ὦ δεσποτο ceparre καθε[οι]--- | ἡ δαμασιος Ovyatnp κα[τα] 
— | cau τῆς θηκης εἰ μεν ουΪ ν] --- | [ως] περ μεν ουν αδικὰ 
εμε--- | μη τυχεῖν εκ παίδων θ᾽) ηκης ]---  καταβοιης ενθυτα 


κε[ ἐμενῆς |—) 

It will be observed that the cross-stroke of the A is 
horizontal, the bottom of B pointed, the top horizontal 
of E extended; © and O are small; the cross-stroke 


1 See above, p. 112. 

2 First described by Petrettini, Papiri Greco-Egizi del I. R. 
Museo di Corte (1826), p. 4, who gives a very rough facsimile; 
afterwards by Blass in Philologus, xli. 746, and in Miiller’s 
Handbuch der klassischen Alterthums- Wissenschaft (1886), i. 280; 
and again by Wessely in EKilfter Jahreshericht tiher das Franz- 
Joseph-Gymnasium in Wien (1885), p. 4. A facsimile is given in 
Pal. Soe, ii. pl. 141. 


120 Palxography. 


of T generally extends more to the left than to the 
right; and the shapes of C and ( are transitional, that 
of the former between the angular and curved forms, and 
that of the latter between the epigraphic Q and the ὦ of 
MSS. In this papyrus the double point (:) is also used 
as a mark of punctuation, as found in inscriptions. 

As already stated, the fragmentary papyrus of the 
Phedo of Plato may be placed in the first half of the 
ord century Β.0., for it was found in company with 
official and other documents which are actually dated in 
the reigns of the second and third Ptolemies ; and these 
would naturally have been regarded as of a more common 
and ephemeral character than a literary work of a great 
writer, and would have been thrown aside in an earlier 
period of existence. 


CoM Ne ele ayeASE kau 
JANA Pt) oct ME ANATE 
pHe Alay THNAECEAY THN CYA 
AF recoAl KALAGPO|TECRA[rTAPAKE 
APY Fe Alrt ΤΕΥ PIN SEMH ZEN | AM 


THE “PHEUDO” OF PLATO.—SRD CENTURY B.C. 


(—[aicOn|cewv πειθουσα Se ex Tovtwp® | [με]ν avaywpew 
οσομὴ un avaykn  χρησ[ίθ]αι αὑτὴν ὃ εἰς eauTny συλ | 
λεγεσθαν καὶ αθροιζεσθαν mapaxe | λευεσ θ]αν πιστευειν 
δε μηδενι αλλωμι) 


This beautiful MS. of Plato would no doubt have 
been treasured by its original owner for many years, 
if not for a lifetime, and it can only have been by 
some accident that it was at length used up as waste 
material. The small portion of the Antiope of Euripides 
which has met with the same fate and has descended 


3 Final ν is changed into p before a following μ. 


Greek Paleography. 121 


to us in the same way must be nearly of the same 
date. But the writing of the latter is not quite so 
good, and though there may be little to choose between 
the two MSS., yet preference may be given to the MS. 
of Plato. The text of the latter is written in narrow 
columns of twenty-two lines, which are from 2} to 
3 inches in length. ‘The width of the papyrus appears 
to have been about 8} inches. The facsimile represents 
a few of the most perfect lines of one of the fragments. 

The writing is a very beautiful uncial hand, minute 
and exact, the chief general characteristic being the 
great breadth, almost flatness, of many οὗ the lettcrs 
(e.g. F, Z, H, M, TI, W), as compared with their height. 
That this is a characteristic of the period, and not a 
personal usage of the writer of the MS., is proved by its 
prominence in other documents of the third century B.c. 
As in the Artemisia papyrus, in certain forms the writing 
departs from the recognized curves of the uncial, and 
approaches more nearly to the rectangles of lapidary 
inscriptions. Thisis seen in the A, and in many instances 
of E, in which the upper horizontal stroke is not only 
perfectly straight, but also of disproportionate length. 
Certain letters are distinguished by their small size, as Θ 
(which also often has only the dot in the centre instead 
of the transverse bar), O, C, and W. The head of the 
iota is IN many instances thickened a little, and some- 
times it is slightly hooked on the right. This peculiarity 
appears to mark the letter in early periods, the hook or 
thickening being removed to the left side of the head in 
later times. 

The next papyrus from which we shall select a speci- 
men of the literary or book-hand is the fragment of a 
dialectical treatise, now at Paris, which was written 
earlier than the year 160 B.c., as proved by the existence 
on the back of it of memoranda of that year (Not. et Πα έν. 
pl. xi., no. 2). There remain fourteen narrow columns 
of the work, written in slightly sloping uncial letters, 
not to compare in elegance with the writing of the Plato 
fragments just noticed, but very simply formed and 
evidently written by a professional scribe. In this 


ye ὧν 


122 Paleography. 


MS. is noticeable the tendency of the columns to work 
downwards to the left, as is seen in ‘other papyri of an 
early period: that is, the marginal line of writing is not 
perpendicular, but each successive line begins a little 
more to the left than the one above it, with the result 
that the last line of a column may begin as much as an 
inch outside the true perpendicular drawn from the 
commencement of the first line. 


ες ΜΑ͂Ι OVAAKACANOSTOISOTHE 
OY χευε γτεφαι “ΤΟΎ 
κιυσα ΣΡΆΣΓΡΟΙ KocoyAe 
CKAIOC €E1l0YqwcAT TCO 

J bAINOITTANTICACY TEAS 
TEA OCEIMIOYAAE TIC! 
STPOCHN Coy AR AK PE 


DIALECTICAL TREATISE.—BEFORE 160 Ba. 


(vat ov adkuav o ποιητὴς | οὕτως ἀπεφαίνετο ov | καὶ ἧς 
avnp aypotkos οὐδε | σκαίος εἰ ovtws απὸ | φαίνοιτ᾽ av τις 
δευτ εμ | πεδος εἰμι OVO ἀστοισι | προσηνὴς ov avaxpe—) 


Where the letters are so simple, there is no special 
remark to be made about them individually, except in 
regard to the alpha, in which the left down-stroke and 
the cross-stroke are made together without lifting the 
pen, their point of junction being sometimes looped. 
This form of the letter is seen also, with a more decidedly 
developed loop, in the fragments of Demosthenes and 
Hyperides, on papyrus, in the British Museum, which 
may be of the 2ud or Ist century B.c., and in some 
of the Herculanean papyri. It will be noticed in the 
facsimile that the paragraphs of the text are marked off 
by the insertion of marginal strokes between the lines, 
according to the ancient system. 

The papyrus containing the orations of Hyperides for 


(== θα ee “ry. = .8 


Greek Palxography. 123 


Lycophron and Euxenippus is probably of the Ist 
century B.c. The writing, of a round type, is remarkably 
regular and elegant (see facsimile, ed. Babington ; Cat. 


Ane. MSS., pls. 2, 3; Pal. Soc. i. pl. 126) 


AITO TINA TCXNOW 

ERE YT! TOA IN 2ye° 
NI RAGT NI IRYQALOTING 
ROH S31COoM AANA 
RHOTDDISCOY IE 
Powe rica icortcxna. 
KeAEYOYCINOIN κως 
- Τὼ 


> 


».-. ας si = 
a DTTOWOS MA NE 
ΧΎΚΟν ᾿οθος 
X 
Aes a 
ORATION OF HYPERIDES FOR LYCOPHRON.—IsT CEN’. B.c, 


(---δὲ ταφηναι eav ov | κέλευητε ὦ avdpes  δικασται καλω 
τινα | βοηθησοντα ava | βηθι μοι θεοφιλε | καὶ ouverte ο 
τι exels | κελευουσιν οἱ δικα | σται || «ἀπολογία ὑπερ] 
λυκοφρονος) 


Here, as in the previous example, the columns of 
writing trend away to the left. ‘The facsimile represents 
the last few lines of the oration for Lycophron, and 
again affords an instance of the ancient system of 
punctuation, and also of the slight degree of ornamenta- 
tion in which a scribe of that period would allow himself 
to indulge, namely, the flourish which is drawn in the 
margin after the last words, and the light touches of the 
pen which decorate the colophon or title of the speech. 

The writing of the Harris Homer is of quite a different 
cast from that which has just been examined. The 


124 Paleography. 


letters have more squareness and are more rigid; they 
are very delicately formed, and have all the simplicity 
characteristic of age. This papyrus, containing portions 
of Book xvii. of the [liad, may be placed without hesita- 
tion as early as the Ist century B.c. 


KX NATAAE NTTH AAI BE 81 29 TRAN D CRDDDBDYO 
ΓΤ Ὁ | OTE CEB 79 ΤΟΥ ANE FO ΠΕΣ ΡΟΝ NI 
LICoPE RET CY MENA OE] METAODN ATH IAN 

NANEINTIARE YCRBEON A TINI DrASTEC BALD 
NYNAWARNOYTTENG NC ENA ΕΤΊΧΔΥΤΊΟΝ 


DARRIS HOMER.—IST CENTURY B.C. 


(kara τα μεν πηληι θεοι Socav ayaa bal pal 
nate τωι οτε σε βροτου avepos ἐεμβαλον e[vvne] 
ws οφελες συ μεν avs μετ αθανατὴης αλι[ηισιν] 
ναίειν πήλευς δε θνητων ἀγαγεσθαι al κοιτιν] 
νυν δ wa Kat συ πενθὸος evi φρεσι μυριον ειη]) 


The papyrus is so much discoloured that there is great 
difficulty in obtaining a good reproduction by photo- 
graphy; but the plate given in the facsimiles of the 
Paleographical Society (11. 64) is fairly successful. The 
text has been considerably corrected and accented by a 
later hand. For the sake of clearness these additions 
have been omitted in our facsimile. 

To follow chronological order, we now give a specimen 
from one of the Herculanean rolls, 


ULC OYXGFU TO! “κε ρσο Ὁ 
TANAEGT IC CYECBEBIVIKWCHIKAI 
: fAOIC AIO ICENYTOYKEX PHMACNOCY 
Tt ONETY MHCHITONHPIASAN O£USTTUUN 
ie κοὺἈλ MENON TYXEIN OY DSENDXIC 
THICYNG SCTNAYITHTOMM AC CECON 
FEPOC ERY FONAOM!ZOMENOCUSIFAPE 
USIN CT ANI O NTO PONOYKECXENAN 


PHILODEMUS.—ABOUT A.D, 1. 


Greek Palxography. 125 


(τως οὐχ ere τοῖς μετὰ την τελευτὴν | oTa δὲ τις εὖ γε 
βεβιωικως ne και | φίλοις akvous εαυτου κεχρήμενος v | πὸ 
de τυχης ἡ πονηρίας ἀνθρωπων  κεκωλυμενον τυχεῖν ουδ 
edayic | τηι συνεξεται λυπὴ TO μηδ εἐσεσθαι | προς εαυτον 
λογιζομενος we yap €| πιγινεταὶ TO λυπηρον οὐκ εσκεν 
αλ.---- 


It is reproduced from one of the published copper- 
plates, in default of more satisfactory facsimiles, as ex- 
plained above; and represents a few lines from Philodemus 
περὶ θανάτους The date may be about the beginning of 
the Christian era. The writing is neat and regular, and 
the letters are simple in form. 


All the MSS. from which the above facsimiles have 
been selected may be said to represent the book-hand 
as generally written on papyrus, as distinguished from 
the uncial writing which is found in the early vellum 
MSS. None of ourspecimens could be pointed to as the 
immediate parent of this latter hand, although no one would 
dispute that there is a relationship. The forms of indi- 
vidual letters may be very similar, both in the papyrus 
hand and in the vellum hand, and yet, if we were to place 
two such MSS. as the Lycophron of Hyperides and the 
Codex Vaticanus side by side, we should not venture to 
derive the writing of the latter directly from that of the 
more ancient MS. But here a most valuable document, 
lately discovered, comes to our assistance in the task of 
determining the parentage of the later uncial hand. 
This isa fragmentary papyrus containing a deed concern- 
ing property in Arsinoé in the Fayoum, which bears the 
date of the seventh year of the Emperor Domitian, a.p. 88. 
The writing is not in the cursive character that one looks 
for in legal documents, but is a formal style, in which a 
likeness to the uncial of the early vellum MSS. is at once 
most obvious. In the first century, then, there was in 
use a set form of writing from which that uncial hand 
was evidently derived by direct descent. And it may be 
concluded with fair certainty that this style of writing 
must have been in existence for a considerable period of 
time ; for here we find it common enough to be employed 


126 | Paleography. 


by an ordinary clerk. The fortunate accident of its 
having been thus used in a dated document has provided 
us with the means of settling the periods of other im- 
portant MSS. 


OAEM AIA) CY EPTETIAITOTA 
KAINTOTIVU UNH! AOA 
τί WCCWCETWN TPIAKON 
TFADHN ATIOTHCNPOrEesrrPaA 


CONVEYANCE.—A.D. 88. 


(---ἰ πτ]ολεμαιδὶ evepyetids του a— | καὶ ἡ τούτου γυνὴν 
διοδω[ρα]--- | πεθεως ὡς ετων τριακον[τα]--- | γραφην απὸ 
της Tpoyeypal μενῆς ]--- 


It is to be noticed that the writer of this document does 
not keep strictly to the formal uncial letters. As if more 
accustomed to write a cursive hand, he mingles certain 
cursive letters in his text: side by side with the round €, 
there stands in one or two places the cursive (not shown 
in the facsimile), in which the cross-stroke is only indi- 
cated by the finishing curve; and, more frequently, the 
cursive upsilon is employed as well as the regular letter. 
Among the other letters, may be remarked the tendency 
to make the main stroke of the alpha rather upright, 
which eventually leads to a distinctive form of the letter, 
as seen fully developed in the palimpsest MS. of the 
Gospel of St. Matthew at Dublin (Codex Z) ; in some of 
the titles of the Codex Aljexandrinus; and above all in 
the Codex Marchalianus of the Vatican’—this being in 
fact the Coptic form of the letter. 

It is also remarkable that in one or two places the 


* We have proof that uncial writing was used as the copy-hand 
for writing lessons in schools, such copies being found on early 
waxen tablets (see above, p. 23). 

5. Lately reproduced iu facsimile, with a commentary by 
A. Ceviani, Rome, 1890. 


Greek Palxography. 127 


writer has employed large letters at the beginning of 
the clauses into which he breaks up the text. This 
practice foreshadows the use of large initial letters, 
which it has been customary to consider as rather a 
mark of advance in the early vellum Greek MSS. 

The Bankes Homer, from which our next facsimile 1s 
chosen, is the best preserved papyrus of tbe Iliad that 
has yet been found, being nearly eight feet in length and 
containing sixteen columns of text; and the material 
being still fairly white and the writing quite legible. 


t WOCEOATOYAETICAYTOS’ ENITTTON 
OYAETYN HITANTAC PAPAXOCETON 
ἈΓΧΟΥΔΕΣΎΥΚΙ BAH NTOTTYAACUNNG 
TTPUSTAITONI2AXOXOCTEP LE IXNHKAt 
ΤΊ AAECOHN ETTALASAN ἘΞ ΤΟΧῸ 
ATOM A κεφαλησκλλίου νὰ 


BANKES HOMER.—2ND CENTURY. 


(ποι[ητης].---ῶς εφατ᾽ οὐδε τις αυτοθ᾽ eve πτόλ[ εἴ λιπετ᾽ ανηρ] 
ovde γυνη᾽ πάντας yap αάσχετον ἵκετο πενθος"] 
αγχὸυ δε ξύνβληντο πυλᾶων vel Kpov ayovTe’ | 
TpwTat TOV y ἀλοχός τε φίλη και aoe μητηρ! 

τιλλέσθην ἐπ αμαξαν εὕτροχοϊν αἴξασαι 
ἁπτόμεναι κεφαλης" κλαίων δ᾽͵ αμφισταθ' ὁμιλος]) 


This MS., which, with the data obtained from the 
preceding document, may now be assigned with more 
certainty than before to the 2nd century, shows a 
further development of the uncial hand of vellum MSS., 
which is here reduced to the exact forms of letters which 
- were to remain essentially unchanged for many centuries. 
It may be noticed that the horizontal strokes of € and @ 
are placed rather low, and even vary in position: one of 
those indications of carelessness or decline from a higher 
standard which is generally looked for in a hand which 
is beginning to fall into desuetude. Judging from the 
analogy of later periods, and from the fact that the late 
Hawara papyrus of Humer is also writien in the same 


128 Palxography. 


cast of uncial writing, one is tempted to suggest that, in 
producing choice copies of a work of such universal 
popularity and veneration as the Iliad, a traditional 
style of writing may have been maintained, just as in the 
middle ages the sacred texts and liturgies still continued 
to be written in a form of handwriting which had 
generally passed out of use. If this view is correct, we 
may find in it an explanation of the adoption of the 
uncial character (the form of writing which before all 
others had been consecrated to the texts of Homer) 
for important copies of the sacred text of Scripture. 

One or two points of interest in the Bankes Homer, 
apart from the actual handwriting, may be mentioned. 
The lines are marked off in hundreds by numerical letters 
inserted in the margins , and the speeches of the different 
persons are indicated by their names, and the narrative 
portions by a contracted form of the word ποιητής, as 
shown in the facsimile. With very rare exceptions, cor- 
rections, accents and breathings and other marks are by 
a later hand. | 

As an example of a rougher style of uncial writing of 
about the third century, a few lines from the recently 
found papyrus of the iambographer Herodas are selected 
(Brit. Mus,, Papyrus cxxxyv.), . 


DOV nis ba SOVATCE DUTT AWN WOT) ONIRET 
“DIAPM EF Mere IALEZON WO) 79 
ANTE DAI N IN Ley pH rey UI }KT-IY 
ICRN ὥρϑοτιδι TOC OY Kop ruchIAHK YN νοὶ 
O)GPre KOI γε τυ τ EPI CAQHNSIHN 


HERODAS.—9SRD CENTURY. 


(δουληστι SovAns Sw ταν ὠθριη θλιβεὰ 
αλλ ἡμερὴ τε κηπι weCov wOcTat 

auTn ov μινον ἡ θυρὴ yap ὠικται 
κανεῖθ οπαστος οὐχ ορηις φίλη κυννο! 
οὐ εργώ KoLvny ταῦτ᾽ ερυς αθηνανηνῚ 


ete eel 
: 


Greek Palexography. 129 


There is no attempt at calligraphy in this MS., which 
is probably a cheap copy made for the market by a 
scribe who was neither very expert nor accurate. 

About the same period or a little later, we meet with 
specimens of sloping uncial writing on papyrus, in which 
the letters are laterally compressed, derived no doubt 
from the round style and developed as a quicker method 
of copying. It is remarked that the round uncial of 
vellum MSS. develops exactly in the same way a style 
of sloping writing at a later period. An early and elegant 
example is given by Wilcken, Zufela zur dltern griech. 
Palzographie, 1891, taf. iii.; and another is found in 
the papyrus of the Iliad, Books 11.—iv. (Brit. Mus, 
Papyrus cxxvi.), which is probably of the 4th century. 


FCTTE RI oN ITPA xMESEN 7 ik we 
CAEP AAAS CAI KO NARS ZEST APN 
EE TANAIENAIMEANN CKAMANSE 
ZTUP lM OLEBTEPYKAK KN AN OES 
HO HFTERIYIAON AAINA PN EONE 
APY TEIQDTACTACMON SI9)-M AOA 


HOMER.—4TH CENTURY. 


(es πεδιον προχέοντο σκαμάνδ[ prov |— 
σμερδαλεον κοναβιζε ποδων--- 

έσταν δ᾽ εν λιμῶνι σκαμανδ[ριωΊ--- 
μυριοι οσσα τε φυλλα και ἀνθεα---- 
NUTE μυιαων αδιναων εθνεΐ αἾ--- 

at τε κατα σταθμον ποιμνηιον---ἢ 


Accents are occasionally used; and in the left margin 
is seen a paragraph mark formed by a couple of oblique 
strokes. 


10 


CHAPTER X. 
GREEK PALAOGRAPHY—CONTINUED. 
Cursive Writing in Papyyvri, etc. 


WE now leave the Book-hand and turn to the examina- 
tion of Cursive Greek writing as found in papyri, 
ostraka, tablets, etc. For this branch of paleography | 
there is comparatively larger material, which is being 
increased every day by the numerous fragments which 
are rapidly making their way from Egypt into Euro- 
pean libraries. But yet, while in the aggregate the 
material is abundant, there are certain periods, notably 
the first century B.c., which are but scantily repre- 
sented. 

For the earliest specimens of cursive Greek writing, 
as for the principal early examples of the book-hand, we 
turn to the fragments discovered by Mr. Petrie at 
Gurob in the Fayoum. As already stated, the coffin- 
makers, in order to form the cartonnage of mummy-cases, 
made use of much cursively written material, documents 
of all kinds, and more particularly of a register or 
registers of wills entered up periodically by different 
scribes, and therefore affording the most valuable evi- 
dences of the handwriting of the third century 8.6. 
The oldest fragment as yet discovered among these 
remains is assigned to the year 268 B.c. The hands 
vary from the most cursive scrawls to what may be 
termed the careful official hand. But throughout them 
all a most striking feature is the strength and facility of 
the writing, besides in many cases its boldness and breadth, 
The general characteristic of the letters, more especially 
in the clerical or official hands of the registers, is great 
width or flatness, which is very apparent in such letters 
as A, M, N, TI, ὦ. In other documents this is less 


ὶ 
ΟΝ 
ae 


Greek Paleography. 121 


apparent, and the writing does not seem far removed in 
style from that of the next century. Some independent 
pieces, such as correspondence, are written in very 
cursive characters which have a peculiar ragged appear- 
ance and are often difficult to read. 

These documents, however, are not the only specimens 
of cursive writing of the third century B.c. within our 
reach. A few scattered pieces have already for many 
years been stored in the various museums of Europe, 
but the antiquity of some of them has not been recognized, 
and they have been thought to belong to the period of 
the Roman occupation of Egypt. At Leyden there is a 
papyrus (Pap. Q), containing a receipt of the 26th 
year of Ptolemy Philadelphus, 260 Bc. At Berlin, 
Paris, and London there are three wooden tablets 
inscribed with deeds relating to a loan of the 30th and 
3lst years of the same king, about 254 3.c. Among 
the papyri of the British Museum, three, formerly 
ascribed to a later date, are now more correctly placed 
in the third century, viz., a petition for redress of 
grievances (Pap. cvi.) of the 25th year, apparently, of 
Ptolemy Euergetes I., B.c. 223; and two others (I. aud 
lia) without dates. ‘he Paris collection also contains 
a long money account for public works (Not. et Hztr. xviii. 
2, pl. xliv.) of the same century, which has been in- 
correctly assigned to the Roman period. A facsimile of 
a letter of introduction, evidently of this time, is given 
by Passalacqua.!. Egger describes a papyrus at Athens,’ 
and various Greek endorsements and dockets on Demotic 
papyri are noticed by Revillout.* Ostraka or potsherds 
also have been found with inscriptions of this period. 

Of cursive writing of the second century Bc. we 


‘have abundant material in the great collections of 


London, Paris, Leyden, etc., referred to above (p. 107) ; 
of the first century B.c. very little has yet been found, 


1 Catalogue Raisonnédes Antiquitésdécouvertes en Egypte, Paris, 
1826. Also described in Notices et Extraits des MSS. xvui., p. 399. 
2 Journal des Savants, 1873, pp. 30, 97. 
Ἢ Chrestomathie Démotique, 1880, pp. 241, 277; Revue Egypt. ii. 
4, 


132 Paleography. 


except in ostraka; of the first century of our erd, 
several papyri have recentiy come to light, and there 
are numerous ostraka; and of the later centuries there 
are abundant specimens at Vienna and Berlin, and an 
ever increasiug number in. Paris and London and other 
places, the searches in the Fayoum continually adding 
to the stock. 

Greek cursive writing, as found in papyri, has been 
divided (Wilcken, Tufeln, 1890) into three groups: the 
Ptolemaic, the Roman, and the Byzantine. Roughly, 
the Ptolemaic comprises documents down to about the 
end of the first century B.c.; the Roman, those of the 
first three centuries of the Christian era; and the Byzan- 
tine, those of later date.. 


The character of Ptolemaic writing, as seen in papyri 
of the third and second centuries B.c. is unmistakeable. 


For the first century B.c. there is not material to enable 
us to form a judgment; but it must have been a period 
of marked transition, if we may judge from the great 
difference between the writing of the first century of 
our era and that of the second century Bc. And the 
documents of the later centuries, of the Byzantine 
period, show as much distinctiveness of character, when 
compared with those of the Roman period of the early 
centuries after Christ. 


Our first example of cursive writing of the third 
century B.c. is taken from one of the entries in the 
registers of wills found at Gurob, being the will of 
Demetrius, the son of Deinon, dated in the year 237 B.c. 
(Mahaffy, Petrie Papyri, pl. xiv.). 

This is a remarkably fine hand, to which the fac- 
simile hardly does justice, and may be classed as a 
good example of the official writing of the time, penned 
by a skilful and experienced registrar. While not as 
cursive as many other specimens of the period, and 
while the letters are in general deliberately formed and 
are not much connected with one another, there are 
certain characters which appear in the most cursive 
shapes, side by side with their more formal representations, 


Greek Paleography. 72 


«& op—roc prt ONT te τοῦ ΤΟΥ ΣΕ 

Δ. ep LiepicperPrreA7 aory 

BPP PERAPETELOCTEN CFE 

I eyreentie pa—peqocpitcep JA 

2 Rote [ROP TCT TP YF PING IT OY 

τευ 7 proc A Eqmieyecep rcp yep i 
WILL OF DEMETRIUS.—237 B.c. 


({Sact|Xevovtos πτολεμαιου Tou πτ--- | [αδεχφων ετους ὁ 
εφ ιερεως «πολλωνιδου---- | θεων αδελῴφων καὶ θεων evepye= 
t[wv|— | [φιλαδελ] hou μενεκρατειας της φιλαμμονος᾽ |— | 
[κρ) οκοδίλων modes του ἀρσινοιτου ν[ομου]---- | δημητρίος 
δεινωνος χρηστηριί[ος]---Ὁ 
In the third line, in the word καὶ, we have the cursive 
angle-shaped alpha, that letter being elsewhere more 
normally formed ; and in the termination ὧν, there is a 
tendency to flatten out the omega into a mere line after 
the initial curve, and to write the nu in a crooked 
stroke. 

We next take a section from a document of the 135th 
year of Ptolemy Philopator, 211 or 210 B.c., recording 
the payment of a tax at ‘l'hebes (Pal. Soc. 11. pl. 143), 


Lorrie ὦ neni, enn 

mba | SEV LAI vep 

Bat AG ττέρϑοτξγνγες 

“ἐκο-; ye saree “εν PY 2 

Eclkvi<catv “ζο oo bette 
TAX-RECEIPT.—211 or 210 8.6, 


(ετους vy τυβι ὃ πέπτωκεν επι TO— | τέλωνιον του εγκυ- 
Κλιου eb ov ερΐμοκλης]-- | Bacire. παρα θοτευτος του 


134 Ταζροσγαῤῆήγ. 
ψεμμιν[ιος]--- | [πε]τεχωνσὶις αθανίωνος τὸ γινομενο[νἹ | 
εγκυκλίου προσοδον ἀρουρων ενδεκ[α]--- | ev πεστενεμενωφε 


του Talupit | ov] —) 


In this specimen of the elegant cursive, which is not 
easy to read, we have the angle-shaped alpha consistently 
employed, and very cursive combinations of the termina- 
tions wy and av, besides instances of the more rapidly 
written forms of efa, lambda, and pi. How very cursive 
this style of writing might become is seen in the two 
last words of the facsimile. 

As a contrast to the two carefuily written examples 
which have just been given, our third specimen of the 
writing of the third century B.c. is selected from a 
rough letter of a steward addressed to his employer 
(Mahaffy, Petrie Papyri, pl. xxix.). 


éxElogr [ic — EX Ptarws? 
aCkaAlpafe “Ay peor’ bu.p *76A 
fae 4 [ofpoe rye’ ay77 
Frarrta emt Ret dincez sel 
97-747 o¢ ad feed 9 |x patkals-T] 
SOUR AL ET ae 
ἠφηῇἤέκ by χει Γι TE Per 
LETTER OF A STEWARD.—3RD CENTURY B.C. 


(exet duves y expnoapuny | de καὶ παρα Suvews apta | Bas ὃ 
κριθοπυρων autou  ἐπαγγελομενου καὶ idotcpou | οντος 
γίνωσκε Oe Kat οτι | ὑδωρ εκᾶστος των opwy τὴν  ἀμπελον 
φυτευομενην προτερον *) 


* As the letter has more than a paleographical interest, Pro- 
fessor Mahaffy’s translation is quoted; “. . .to Sosiphanes, greet- 
ing. I give much thanks to the gods if you are well. Lonikos 
also is well, The whole vineyard has been planted, viz., 300 
stocks, and the climbing vines attended to. But the olive-yard 
has yielded six measures, of which Dynis has got three. Also I 
have borrowed from Dynis four artabe of beard: d wheat, which 


Greek Palxography. 135 


The style of writing is similar to that of the Leyden 
papyrus Q., which was written in the 26th year of 
Ptolemy Philadelphus, B.c. 260; and our letter may well 
be as early as the middle of the century. It will be 
seen that the letters are not linked together, but that 
they are hastily and roughly formed. ‘lhe writer, 
though not a good penman, was evidently so far skilled 
that he could write rapidly and with ease; and the 
document may be regarded as a sample of the rough 
business hand of the period, Among the individual 
letters, the thoroughly cursive forms of eta, lambda, nu, 
tau, upsilon, and omega, are to be distinguished. The 
letter cota, with the thickening on the right-hand side 
of the top of the letter, which has already been referred 
to asa mark of antiquity, and the very small size of 
theta and omikron, may also be noticed. 

The more carefully written documents of the second 
century B.c., do not differ so much from those of the 
same style of the preceding century as might have 
been expected. As far, however, as an opinion can be 
formed from extant remains, it appears that the practice 
of linking together the letters, particularly by slight 
horizontal strokes attached to their tops, becomes more 
prevalent. This is seen to best advantage in some of 
the elegantly written papyri of this period, the links im- 
parting a certain grace and finish to the line of writing. 

The first example is taken from an official circular or 
instruction on the mode of collecting the taxes, written 
probably in the year 170 nc. (Not. et Eztir., pl. xl., 
no. 62). 

Here we have avery fine official hand, to be compared 
with that of the will of Demetrius, of 237 B,C., given 
above, of which it may claim to be an almost direct 
descendant. In this writing there is a greater tendency 
than in that of the earlier period to break up the letters, 


he offered, was pressing to lend. Know also that each of the 
watchers says that the planted vines want water first, and that 
they have none. We are making conduits and watering, The 
third of the first month (9), Good-bye,” 


136 Patleography. 


that is, to form their several limbs by distinct strokes. 
Thus we see the taw often distinctly formed in two 
portions, the first consisting of the left half of the 
horizontal and the vertical, and the second of the right 
half of the horizontal. ‘he upsilon is also made on the 
same plan. 


PARE MSM tes 
Seat Ὁ DAM GN SN PACU MINT 


= 8 — Hy ΝΜ 
TPES Qj cep ΘΝ ΕΤ: ἡ; 
TREASURY CIRCULAR.—B.c. 170 (ἢ). 
([καταποσταλησεταιίμετα φυλακὴς | ---[γ]εγραμμενων γνω- 
uns | ---ζςυπΊαρξει εἰς την εγληψιν) 
_ The system of linking referred to above is here very 
noticeable, such letters as partially consist of horizontal 
strokes naturally adapting themselves to the practice, 
while others not so formed are supplied with links, as 
in the case of eta and nu, 


Tom poet tect) 
ἀξ: pote oredr? όγε- 
LETTER ON EGYPTIAN CONTRACTS.—B.C. 146, 


(--[πε͵ποηνται οἰκονομίαν Kat Ta | [ovouat]a avtwy πατρο- 
θεν evtaccev | —[ypad|ew ἡμᾶς εντετάχεναι εἰς | [ypnua 
Tia | “ov δηλωσαντες τον TE) 


—" 
> 
Pa 


Ἵ 


Greek Paleography. 137 


A more cursively written specimen of this time is 
found in a letter of a certain Paniscus regarding the 
execution of Egyptian contracts, ascribed to the year 
146 B.c. (Not. et Hztr., pl. xlii., no. 65 bis). 


Here we have a full cursive alphabet in use, with 


‘numerous examples of rapid combinations of letters, as 


αι, av, wy, ev, ew, and a tendency to write in curves 
without lifting the pen, as exemplified by the gamma- 
shaped fau, and the epsilon with the cross-stroke run 
on in continuation of the lower curve. 

The great papyrus at Paris, known as the Casati 
contract, referring to a sale of property at Thebes, is 
written in a rather closely-packed hand, of which a 
specimen is here given. The date of the document is 
114 B.c. (Not. et Levtr., pl. xiui., no. δ). 


AYT™| tay ih Cn aemert fener tente 
ery ler ce pervert Fete ὙΠῪΝΜ 
Fen eteremoyensrs ct Are) ame 


PACERS Led oflhye sai sue | 


CASATI CONTRACT.—v.c. 114. 


(αυτωι pepos εβδομον ns yertoves— | ὠικοδομημενον πηχεως 
tpitov— | Kat εν πμουνεμουνει aTT οἰκιας--- | μενεους ALBoS 
οἰκία ζμανρ[εους |) 


It will be observed that the letters are not altogether 
so cursive as those of the last specimen, and that the 
general appearance of the writing is more compact, 
although continuous. This effect is chiefly produced 
by the linking of the letters, both inthe natural manner 


138 Palxography. 


and by the employment of added links after such letters 
as eta, rola, nu, pt, and wpsilon. 
' It is curious that hitherto scarcely any dated Greek 
writing of the first century B.c. has come to hight. But, 
judging by the documents of the beginning of the first 
century of our era, the progress made in the develop-- 
ment of cursive writing in the previous hundred years 
must have been very considerable. For example, if we 
examine such a document as that given in facsimile in 
Wiener Studien, iv. (1882), p. 175, of a.p. 8, the advance 
made in the cursive character of several letters is very 
apparent (see Table of Letters). 

We now give a specimen from ‘a receipt, found in the 
Fayoum, for rent paid in kind in the 8th year of Tiberius, 
A.D. 20. (Pal. Soe. ii. pl. 144). 


Lena tense poeene Rea 
ὧν “δ rsbotrel ropa Mtr lseon 
Leds d-ffeap 

RECEIPT.—A.D. 20. 


(του θ etous κατα μηδεν μου eXaTou | μενου ὑπερ wv ofiret 
μοι μαρρῆὴς | πετοσιίριος eTepa expopia eTous ἡ τιβερι[ου] | 
κλαυδιον καισαρος σεβαστου | γερμανικου avToKpaTopos 
μηνος | καισαρηοῦυ 2) 


The handwriting is rough and irregular, and there is 
a general slackness in the formation of the letters which 
marks the late period of the writing, as compared with 
the cursive specimens which have already been examined, 
The prevailing use of the epsilon having its cross-stroke 


3 
7 
Ἢ 7 
Ὶ 
a 


Greck Paleography. 139 


drawn, without lifting the pen, in continuation of the 
upper curve of the letter should be remarked, as this 
form now becomes very common. 

The papyrus on the back of which the recently dis- 
covered text of Aristotle’s work on the Constitution of 
Athens was transcribed, was first used, as already stated, 
to receive the farm accounts of land in the district of 
Hermopolis in Egypt, in the reign of Vespasian, 
A.D. 78-79. The following facsimile represents a portion 
of one of the headings (Cat. Gk. Papyri wm Brit. 
Mus.). 


CH cpore «σοῖο RUT OK 
OLENTIMTIANY ohacove rx 
LXATIANA TOL DAF NOX XIX 
ZOAIALTSE (το οὶ Gro 2 


FARM ACCOUNT.—A.D. 78-79. 


(ετους evdexatov avtok[patopos|— | ουεσπασιανου σεβασ- 


του | nvos|— | δαπαναι Tov μηνος youry— | To δὲ avTov 
εἐπίμαχου εμου O[ ιδυμου]) 


This is a good example of the light and graceful hand 
in which many of the tax rolls and other accounts are 
found to be written. Among individual letters, attention 
should be drawn to the much-curved sigma with its 
head bent down, a form which, though found occasionally, 
particularly at the end ofa word or line, in earlier papyri, 
now comes into more general use. 

The first of the cursive hands employed upon the 
Constitution of Athens is next represented. he date 
is probably not much later than that of the farm account, 
and may reasonably be placed about a.p. 100. 


140 Palxography. 


πρ’ “του MAL A IN 1 fe po Mote YG 
ΛΥΝΎΜ LEN WW νυ IM 0 70 ROT HUY 
DMI) MAP IY NAPocnbenpo VNeEX tem ayy 
MA TST NAOH ON CEMA EEC vue nuleh 
SU rMeo m °K} VI oN oP NM verry 
hr? Ne Koy Monn Wo “ὙΠΑῚ ARS 
po Ὡτορ ΟΜ Υν SINAN EN Ve 1077 


ARISTOTLE, CONSTITUTION OF ATHENS.—ABOOT A.D. 100. 
(προς tous εξεταζειν τα yevn βουλομίενἼ]ους επε[τα]---Ἰ 
πεντήκοντα εξ εκαστίης͵] pvdyns tote ὃ ησαν εκα] τον ]--- | 
[cup] Bane μερίζειν πτρος (corr. x[ata]) τας προὔπαρχουσας 
tpit[ Tus |— | αναμισγεσθ[ αι) το πληθοΐς] διένειμε | €] 
x[ac| τίην] χωραν κί ατα]--- | d[e]xa dle] τί ys] pecoyeso| v| 
και] Tavtas ἐπονομάσας τριττίυς--- | παντ[ων] των] 
τόπων κ[ αι] δημοτας εποιῆσεν addy λων ---- | προσαγορευ- 
οντες εξελεγχωσιν τους νεοπολι τας ]) 


The hand is cramped and employs many abbreviations 
(see above, p. 90). The prevalent use of the epsilon 
referred to under the facsimile of the receipt of a.p. 20, 
and the occurrence of a peculiar form of eta, somewhat 
resembling wpsilon (see e.g. 1. 2, πεντηκοντα), should 
be noticed. This form probably came first to use in 
the first century B.c., as it is quite established at the 
beginning of our era. 


O06 TAPCO STTR Tt TU 

ie a JO Y IUNIATIPYUX O70 

DWT MA Og IM TOO ANP OFC 
we to alu 7a Ge she 


DEED OF SALE.—a.D. 154, 
(untpos tavaTworis τω[ν]--- | [ulepes καὶ του μετηλλω- 
yotos— | [T]o ὑπαρχον avtw pepos ἡμ] σου --- | ἐρμωνος 
axo\ov0ws TN) 


ξ. 
re 
_ 
= 


Greek Palxography. 141 


Our next example, of the middle of the second cen- 
tury, is taken from a deed of sale, from Elephantine, of 
the 17th year of Antoninus Pius, a.p. 154 (Not. et Lztr., 
pl αὶ» no.-17). 


Here there is a considerable advance on the writing 
of the previous century, the letters being carelessly 
formed and misshapen, but still without any marked 
exaggeration. 


The following is a facsimile from a fragmentary 
papyrus of official documents of the reign of Alexander 
Severus, A.D. 233 (Not. et Eztr., pl. xlvi., no. 69 e). 


AR Pr Tee Ome AY KT 
ἌΜΕ ΕἸστυ τίσ: oy 
agg eee ee ol | a 


OFFICIAL DEED.—A.D. 233. 


(---στρατηγος υπο νυκτα--- | —Tw γυμνασίω awa αὐυρ[ηλιω] 
— [ἰ--ἰ εἸστεψεν εἰς yupvaciap|xov|— | ---ελαίαν «ρπαη- 
σιος ιερ--) 


Being an official hand, the writing is more regular 
than the last specimen, the vertical position of the 
strokes lending it an archaic appearance, with which 
however the loose formation of certain letters is incon- 
sistent. 

The cursive writing of the Byzantine period is gene- 
rally distinguished by its Joose and flourished style, in 
which we see the development of the long strokes of: 
certain of the minuscule letters of medizeval writing, as 
the ordinary delta (6), the h-shaped eta, and the long 
lambda drawn below the line. The following three 


142 Palxography. 
specimens must suffice to illustrate the writing of this 


period. 
(1) A section from an act of manumission of a.D. 355 


(Young, Hieroglyphics, pl. 46). 


oN TTON XA NEMECOE 
EMETHN RS 

. °\TK Adwot 
ol — Efe FON] 
OKLA Mr pon Ecr ΤῊ coor 


MANUMISSION.—A ἢ. 959. 
(| |poeurov καὶ νεμεσθε--- | ---πειθεσθαι ewe την ἐλευ[θε- 
ρουντα]--- | ---[ελευθε]ρουμενοις καθως m— | ---ἰ εὐτ]ε ἐπί 
ετεροίς εκγονοις---- | —akwAvTOV εσταί της δουΪλειας |) 
(2) Portions of a few lines of a deed of sale at Pano- 
polis, a.p. 599 (Wot. et Hxtr., pl. xlviii., no. 21 ter). 


eve 


Pee 


13 Kappel 
Cae 
2 


DEED OF SALE.—A.D. 099. 


ὌΨΙΝ ae re δ 


2 
ἢ 
ἂν 
; 
- 
r: 


Greek Palxography. 143 


(—ns της αὐτῆς otxials| | ---[α]δελῴην kata τὸ ὑπολοι 
[πον] | ---[πα͵τρωας ἡμων διαδοχίης]) 


(8) Another example froma similar deed of sale of 
A.D, 616 (Not. et Extr., pl. xxiv., πο. 21). 


Ty 771TH EF Nb gew. P/ 


Ba Lr ANTS σ᾽ 


DEED OF SALE.—A.D. 616. 


(cEns vroypadovtos— | Kataypadny καθ ard[ nv |— | ταυτὴ 
τὴ ἐννομω πρίασι]--- | δια travtos—) 


Reference to the Table of Letters will convey some 
idea of the variety of the handwritings of this period. 


The last document from which a facsimile is selected 
to illustrate the division of early Greek Cursive writing 
is the fragmentary papyrus, inscribed with a letter from 
the Emperor, apparently to Pepin le Bref, on the 
occasion of his war against the Lombards in a.p, 7565 
(Wattenbach, Script. Grac. Specim., pl. xiv. xv.). 


δ In a notice of this document in the Revue Archéologique, 
tem. xix., 1892, Monsieur Omout is inclined to date it as late as 
A.D. 839. 


144 Paleography. 


Aa 


Suco τας 


β rol 
sp deco dolahao 


ζῶ Fee ἱ 


IMPERIAL LETTER.—A.D. 750. 


(---εστω μεθ υμων᾽ και περι Tol v]— | —appodziov σοι eotw 
Kat vTrou— | ---[εἰρην]ευειν τω προδηλωθεντῖ ι]---} 


In this specimen of the writing of the Imperial 
Chancery, most carefully written, we have the prototype 
of the minuscule literary hand of the ninth century. 
Making allowance for the flourishes permissible in a 
cursive hand of this style, the letters are almost identical. 
A fragment o£ similar writing is in the British Museum 


(Pap. xxxu.). 


A glance at the accompanying Table of Alphabets, 
selected from documents written more or less cursively 
on papyrus and dating from about B.c. 260 to A.D. 756, 
will satisfy us of the danger of assuming that some 
particular form of a letter belongs to a fixed period. 
The not infrequent recurrence of old forms at later 
times forbids us to set up such criteria. On the other 


Greck Paleography. 145 


hand, the birth and growth of particular forms can be 
usually traced, and the use of some such form may 
assist us in placing an anterior limit to the date of the 
document in which it is found. Thus, the occurrence 
of the open c-shaped epsilon might confirm an opinion 
that the document was not earlier than the first cen- 
tury B.c., the tinte when the letter, probably, took that 
shape; but, at the same time, the occurrence of the 
old simple form would be no criterion of age, as that 
form keeps reappearing in all times. So, too, the down- 
curved sigma appears in MSS, which may be assigned 
to the first century B.c.; yet the old form continued in 
common use for centuries later. The character of the 
writing, however, distinctly changes with the lapse of 
time ; and, though particular letters may be archaic in 
shapes, the true age of the text, judged by its general 
appearance, can usually be fixed with fair accuracy. ‘The 
natural tendency to slackness and flourishing as time 
advances is sufficiently apparent to the eye as it passes 
along the lines of letters in the Table; still more so if 
it passes over a series of documents, in which the juxta- 
position of the letters and the links which join them into 
words are so many aids to forming a judgment. 

Viewed as representative of three periods, Ptolemaic, 
Roman, and Byzantine, the series of letters are fairly 
distinguishable and capable of being grouped. The 
first three columns, of the Ptolemaic period, stand quite 
apart in their simple forms from those of the Roman 
period which begins with the fourth column ; and this 
distinction is made more striking by the absence of 
anything to represent the first century B.c. The 
columns of the Roman period blend more gradually 
into those of the Byzantine period; but taken in their 
entirety the flourished alphabets of the late centuries 
alford a sufficient contrast to the less untrammelled 
columns of the middle, Roman, period. 

Certain letters are seen to change in form in a com- 
paratively slight degree during the nine hundred years 
covered by the Table, exclusive of the last column ; 
some are letters which are not very frequently used, 
4 11 


146 Palxography. "on 


others are such as do not very readily run on to fol- 
lowing letters. How far the natural tendency of a 
cursive writer to link together his letters could affect 
their shapes 15 seen in even some of the earliest forms. 
For example, the occasional horizontal position of the 
last limb of alpha or lambda was due to its connection 
with a following letter in the upper level of the line of 
writing ; and the opening of the lower right-hand angle 
of delta and the lifting of the right-hand stroke into a 
more or less elevated position was owing to the same 
cause. ΤῸ the same tendency are due the artificial 
links which appear attached so early to such letters as 
eta, kappa, nu, pi; and in the case of taw this linking 
may have decided the ulterior shape of the letter (as a 
cursive), having the cross-bar extending also to the 
right above the vertical, as in its normal form, instead 
of being kept only to the left, as seen in the earliest 
examples in the Table. 

How soon certain letters in their most cursive forms 
might become so alike that they might be mistaken for 
each other is illustrated by the pretty close resemblance 
between the curved early forms of lambda, mu, and pi ; 
and, again, there is very little difference between the 
ordinary gamma and the lambda with horizontal final 
stroke. Such similarities naturally increased as the 
letters assumed more flexible shapes in the Roman 
period. The v-shaped cursive beta and the v-shaped 
cursive kappa are nearly identical; and the u-shaped 
forms of the same letters are very similar. Nw and pi 
likewise bear a close resemblance in more than one of 
their forms ; and the y-shaped tau and the long upsilon 
are not unlike. 

We may examine the course of change of some of the 
letters in detail :-— 

The capital form of alpha written quickly falls 
naturally into the uncial shape, in which the cross-bar 
is connected by a continuous stroke of the pen with the 
base of the first limb. To throw away the final limb 
and leave the letter as a mere acute angle was a natural 
step for the quick writer to take; and perhaps there 


Greek Palexography. 147 


is no better example to prove the very great age of 
cursive Greek writing than this form of the letter which 
is found in the earliest documents of the Table. 

The history of beta is the history of a struggle between 
a capital form and a cursive form. Throughout the 
whole course of the nine hundred years from B.c. 260 
to a.D. 633, the two forms stand side by side. The 
variations of the cursive form are interesting; at first it 
slurred the bows of the capital by a downward action of 
the pen, the letter being thus n-shaped, closed at the 
top and generally open at the base: in the Roman 
period the action of the pen was reversed, and the letter 
became u-shaped, open above and closed at the base. 

In delta we see quite early a tendency to lengthen 
the apex ina line; but it was only in the Byzantine 
period that it took the exaggerated form, at first 
resembling a Roman d, from which was finally evolved 
the minuscule letter which we write to the present day. 

That epsilon, the letter more frequently used than any 
other in the Greek alphabet, should have been liable to 
many changes is only to be expected. In the Table 
the most radical alteration of its shape from the formal 
semicircle with the cross-bar, to the e-shape in which 
the cross-bar survives only as a link-stroke, is seen 
under the first century; and this is the period when 
this latter form evidently became most prevalent, 
although it no doubt existed earlier. 

From the first, eta, in its cursive form, had already 
assumed the shape of a truncated Roman h, the main limb 
of which was extended in the Byzantine period to the full 
height of that letter, to which it bears an exact resem- 
blance in the last columns of the Table. The curious 
shape which it is frequently found to assume in the first 
century, like the numeral 7 or, rather, the Hebrew 7, 
appears, as far as we can judge from existing documents, 
to have been restricted to about that period. 

The shifting of the bent head of zota from the right 
to the left im the course of time has already been 
noticed. 

In kappa we have again, as in the case of Leta, a con- 


148 Paleography. a. 


tinued struggle between the capital and the cursive 
ἊΝ forms, both holding their ground to the end. a 

The flat and wide- spread forms of mu in the Ptolemaic 
: period are very distinctive. The letter appears in the 
| Roman period to have kept very much to its normal 
capital shape, and only at a later time to have deve- 
loped its first limb into the long stroke with which it 
is always provided as a minuscule, 

The early cursive form of nu, of the Ptolemaic dried 
in which the last limb is thrown high up above the line, 
did not hold its ground against the square forms, the 
resemblance of which to certain forms of ρὲ has already 
been referred to. The variety of shapes of both these 
letters 15 remarkable. 

It might perhaps have been expected that sigma 
would have developed the late round minuscule o sooner 
than it did. One sees an approach to it in certain forms 
of the first century. The down-curving letter of that 
period might have led directly to it; and it is remark- 
able that the normal C-shape should have lasted to so 
late a period as the common form of the letter. 

With regard to the closing letters of the alphabet, which 
appear to have been less subject to variation than most 
of those which precede them, little need be said. It 
may be noticed how early the main-stroke of phi was 
drawn outside the loop; and that, in its earliest stage, 
omega was generally in the form of an unfinished εὖ, 
wanting the final curve, or even not far removed from 
the epigraphic Q. 


A.D. 592 - 633. A.D. 756. ἢ 


> 
~] 
» 
© 
[2 


τ a τι 
B.C. 260-2650. B.C. 240-210. = B. Ο.180 - 110. 15: Century. 2nd Century. 3° Century. 


sy Raipur ee YF fp pore Oa ee Sh Pee eS δυ AREA KK RED ADR aAY ᾿ δι LAD wv ἘΞ Σὰ δὶ ὁ. δ᾽ ὃ ὃ. ἃ 

37: ββηβ Pf B&B Bn» vY BET duUvUAUKG uuB BBv IB b ® RRS Buku μ u BA yxue Re 
r ere ie ot ὦ Pre ae ae Se χε ἘΣ Γ Ξ πῶ Υ̓ ee el eee Ὲ 

re ἌΨΩΣ diese MIE Αγ τ: AKRALAGAS BRA da 2. Sas fe aie & EX laad Ad Xo) D2 ota δ hal x 

ee ee eeee CEECEEL » C@Eercucrerre |e ὃ τον τν weeeé ἐπε [cet | ἐ ἐεδι τς κι 

é ἘΠ ey Mee ZZ ae veg ce ΤΩΣ See IT ee: | ZL Zee Z. 2 τς oe pM 3 Be 

n| KAR Rn wR RRM ΠΝ δι. !: RATA R SS 97 UNH parkk iM fC Hm |Anhh Ih / ΠΥ εὐ eee 

6| 99 * 2b e880 5.86 9 δι @F bh 59 δὸ ὃ ὃ 6 Δ I 6 Θ Orh 6 O bo 

ΠῚ re ee ee ee te Will Gb ae es fa | 305) oe Be 1) ) jaa ){ Ἢ (hl | || 

Kal Kk KEK KI KK EKK AK kbUueen XK KKRUGCKKY κά |KKK |K K kK K k hduekekh 

ieee Pn Ae ee SN KK ἘΞ WS) | AK PRE N Sop Ὧν Sas ANA ON KING ji. ANE FE Phe 

LS SL Tae Teh SN ew Σ ΝΣ ς Wak eG NE Ie MoM MAM nm »- mr fe RX AL πὶ τος ΤΠ ΒΟΡ.Ε κ᾿ μα Μμ.»μ he ἀν aig earners 

yl Pee τον ον τ nr UN NH ΝΥΝ τ ἡ πῆ πὶ τὸ ΓΝ ὃ N NNwnrentw TUNPPIN rt Yt | NWN pe nh Nunh | A he . pln ἡ 

ΕΠ ΕΞ ΕΞ ee a Ξι rea | 7 Ξ Ἢ 4 =: 

oO ou ὁ 200. ou fo) ae ae 12 1 t ee asa 060 a O εἰ Uh oon 

1 HAG HN oa fey) σὺ tes π τ Wome ἈΎΥ νὴ ons Wowie IN ice ΝΥ re 72 PACHIE Tire GA) Nae Ad AL OX MAb Tar TU WW TU Ww Ww ΤΥ που labial 

Pedal nat hah i fc a Cot iba τ at he ὅς [ἢ ne fe ¢ (Rey Gy ae 2 

σ᾽ e¢le eee ort anu" ng ae on CECore oan rt Se Cres Coe oe cor Cre eG Ce ΟΣ a C Cee -C (ST ae 

7 | CC? ela Te Vo op a γΎΤ  γ τ νυ Tot τὺ τ τ ττ τ [Τὺ fa | To. Tey 

ΤΥ Ἐπ ΤΠ ΝΥ "εν. et NA Va aN VN ey et VV Y ὅν ον Vvy Uses Pee VO Nia aes 

aereiewavee: | (sree t 43. }1441] lp teat? 212 ite 4 if lee id τ} 

X| x Kx AK ae Ἐξ 9ς ἘΞ KO τ xe ΕΞ X X Pm y Oe 

| 2 ἢ, ey} ΚΠ pee oe 11 ft ΕΖ Ὧι 

ὍΝ ας τς yin ω- ὧδ ROC OT Wo ἃ ὧν ὦ τς w ὦ Nw wi ὦ we DD wwww [wo mw w Wn w W W προς [ὼ w oes 

ie Ricsiwage ΜΒ GREEK Sere ALPHABETS EMA 


᾿ 


ξ. 
Ἵ 
+ 


1 yee" 


ὃ 
4, 
+ 


CHAPTER XI. 


GREEK PALZOGRAPHY—CONTINUED,. 


Uncial Writing in Vellum MSS. 


We have seen the Uncial Book-hand in papyri, and 
have had in the facsimiles of a conveyance of a.p. 88 
(p. 126) and of the Bankes Homer (p. 127) specimens 
of the round hand which is the direct prototype of the 
writing on vellum which we are now about to examine. 
The first thing to strike the eye in the earliest examples 
of vellum uncial MSS. is the great beauty and tirmness 
of the characters. The general result of the progress of 
any form of writing through a number of centuries is 
decadence and not improvement. But in the case of 
the uncial writing of the early codices there is improve- 
ment and not decadence. ‘This is to be attributed to 
the change of material, the firm and smooth surface of 
vellum giving the scribe greater scope for displaying 
his skill asacalligrapher. In other words, there appears 
to have been a period of renaissance with the general 
introduction of vellum as the ordinary writing material. 
The earliest examples of vellum uncial Greek MSS., 


which have survived practically entire, are the three great 


codices of the Bible: the Cudex Vaticanus, the Codex 
Sinaiticus, and the Codex Alexandrinus. The Vati- 
canus is to all appearance the most ancient and may 
be ascribed to the 4th century. It is written in triple 
columns, without enlarged initial letters to mark para- 
graphs or even the beginnings of the several books. 
The writing in its original state was beautifully regular 
and fine; but, unfortunately, the whole of the text 
has been touched over, in darker ink, by a hand of 
perhaps the 10th century, only rejected letters or words 
being allowed to remain intact. 


150 Paleography. 


rrAM TU NAE rain’ TA 
AE AETEIORACIASYCNep 
sca KY poceMEANEAG 
7 EN RBACIAEATH σοι κΥ 
MENH cOKYPplocToyic 
pAHAKE byfictocral 
ἐσήμηνεν MOIOIKo 
AOMHCAIAY TWOIKON 


CODEX VATICANUS.—4rH CENTURY. 


ζγράπτων λεγων᾽ ta | δὲ λεγε, ὁ βασιλεὺς περ | σῶν 
κῦρος" ἐμὲ ἀνέδει | ξεν βασιλέα τῆς οἰκου | μένης ὁ κύριος 
τοῦ to | panr κ[ὑριοὶς ὁ ὁ ὑψιστος" καὶ | ἐσημηνέν μοι οἶκο | 
δομῆσαι αὐτῶ οἶκον) 


The accents and marks of punctuation are additions 
probably by the hand which retouched the writing. 

The Codex Sinaiticus, Tischendorf’s great discovery, 
1s probably somewhat younger than the Vatican MS. 
and may be placed early in the Sth century. 


TWRACIAEITOIIPA 
rMAKAIENOIHCEe 
OY Twc: 

KAILAN@©PCDTTOCHIN 
JOYAAITOCEN COY 
COINCTHITOAEIKAI 
ONOM AAT ee 

7 “OBACINEVE RCV Al oO COTOY! KI 

poy TOYCE M EE1OY: 


CODEX SINAITICUS.—EARLY OTH CENTURY. 


(τω βασιλει το Tpa| γμα Kat εποιησεῖν] | ουτως : | καὶ 
ἀνθρωπος nv | ἴουδαιος εν σου | aos TH πόλει καὶ | ονομᾶ 
αὐυτω μαρ | δοχαιος ο Tov ἴαευ | ρου" Tou σεμεειου.) 


Greek Paleography. 151 


It is written with four columns in a page, the open 
book thus presenting eight columns in sequence, and, as 
has been suggested, recalling the line of columns on a 
papyrus roll. Like the Vatican MS., it is devoid of 
enlarged letters; but the initial letter of a line beginning 
a sentence is usually placed slightly in the margin, as 
will be seen in the facsimile. 

The chief characteristic of the letters 1s squareness, 
the width being generally equal to the height. The 
shapes are simple, and horizontal strokes are fine. 

With the Codex Alexandrinus there is a decided 
advance. ‘The division of the Gospels into Ammonian 
sections and the presence of the references to the 
Eusebian canouvs are indications of a later age than 
that of its two predecessors. The MS. may have been 
written before the middle of the 5th century. There 
can be little doubt of the country of its origin being 
Egypt, for, besides the fact of its having belonged to 
the Patriarchal Chamber of Alexandria, it also contains 
in its titles certain forms of the letters A and M which 
are distinctly Egyptian. It was sent as a present to 
King Charles the First by Cyril Lucar, Patriarch of 
Constantingple. 

EONCOY KAIAY TUIMON CDA 
CEC’ («ΧΙ ΓΑΕ τ ΣΎ γε 

€ οὐχ KAIECTHCENSY TOR 
€eTrnmTorl PTEPVYUIONTOYVIC Poy 
KSAIECMTENSAY TW CIYCEITOVN 
BAACCESYTONENTECYOENI<S 
PSmpxUIT IU SPOTITOICArreEes 
PY TOVE NTECAEGCIVETICPICOY KR 

CODEX ALEXANDRINUS.—OTH CENTURY. 


(θ[ εοἱν cov καὶ avtw μονω λατίρευ] | cess’ καὶ nyayev 
αυτον | εἰς Ἰηρουσα λῆμ᾽ καὶ εστησεν avtov | emt TO 
πτερυγίον Tov ιερου | και εὐπεν auTw εἰ υἱιοἸς εἰ του 
[θεου] | βαλε σεαυτον εντευθεν κίατω"] | γεγραπται yap’ 
οτι τοις αγγελ[οις] | avrov εἐντελειτε περι Tou τ-τ-) 


1 See Ρ. 104, 


eet ee ΤΟΥ ee! ee 


152 Paleography. 


In this specimen we see instances οὗ contracted words. 
The MS. has enlarged letters to mark the beginnings 
of paragraphs ; the initial standing in the margin at 
the beginning of the first full line, whether that be the 


first line of the paragraph, or whether the paragraph — 


begin, as shown in the facsimile, in the middle of the 
preceding line after a blank space 

The writing of the Codex Alexandrinus is more care- 
fully finished than that of the Codex Sinaiticus. The 
letters are rather wide; horizontal strokes are very fine ; 
and there is a general tendency to thicken or club the 
extremities of certain letters, as Γ, T, €, and C. 

Other uncial MSS. which have been ascribed to the 
fifth century and a little later are: the Homer of the 
Ambrosian Library at Milan, interesting for its ilus- 
trations, which were copied probably from earlier ori- 
ginals and have transmitted the characteristics of 
classical art (Pal. Soc. 1. pls. 39, 40, 50, 51); the palim- 
psest MS. of the Bible, known as the Codex Ephraemi, 
at Paris (ed. Tischendorf, 1845) ; the Octateuch, whose 
extant leaves are divided between Paris, Leyden, and 
St. Petersburg; the Genesis of the Cottonian Library, 
once, probably, one of the most beautifully, illustrated 
MSS. of its period, but now reduced by fire to blackened 
and defaced fragments (Cat. Anc. MSS.1. pl. 8); the 
Dio Cassius of the Vatican (Silvestre, pl. 60) ; and the 
Paris Pentateuch (16. pl. 61). A facsimile of an ancient 
fragment of Euripides at Berlin, which is certainly of a 
respectable age and which has even been ascribed to 
the 4th ceutury, will be found in Wilcken’s Tafeln zir 
dlteren griech. Palxographie, pl. iv. 

Uncial writing of the sixth century shows an advance 
on the delicate style of the fifth century in the com- 
paratively heavy forms of its letters. Horizontal strokes 
are lengthened, and are generally finished off with heavy 
points or finials. The Dioscorides of Vienna (Pal. 506. 1, 
pl. 177), written early in the century for Juliana Anicia, 
caughter of Flavius Anicius Olybrius, Emperor of the 
West in 472, 15 a most valuable MS. for the paleeographer, 
as it 1s the earliest example of uncial writing on vellum 


Greek Paleography. 153 


to which an approximate date can be given. It is also 
of great interest for the history of art, as, in addition to 
the coloured drawings of plants, reptiles, insects, etc., 
which illustrate the text, it contains six full-page designs, 
one of them being the portrait of the royal Juliana herself 


ARAGX GIIXAPOIABACIAI 
AW PAWCK AM BHC ’'TOAC 
WCTTEGPTLTPIMN IKAVAOR 
TPITTH ΣἪ TTAPA AAACA 
KepAMATOMOLAIMH ΚΝ 


DIOSCORIDES.—EARLY 6TH CENTURY. 


(Pura eye καροια βασιλι κη]---- | yAwpa ws βραμ' βης: 
to Se— | waTrep πριων: KavAov— | τριπηχη" παραφυαδας 
a| zo |— | κεφαλαι ομοιαι μηκωνυΐ ι]--)} 


This is a specimen of careful writing, suitable to a 
sumptuous book prepared for a lady of high rank. The 
letters exhibit a contrast of thick and fine strokes; the 
curve of both € and C is thickened at both extremities ; 
the base of A extends right and left and has heavy dots 
at the ends; the cross-strokes of TT and T are treated in 
the same way. In the second line will be noticed an 
instance, in the word fpauBys, of the use of the 
apostrophe to separate two consonants,” a commun 
practice in this MS. 

Other MSS. of this period are: the palimpsest Homer 
in the British Museum (Cat. Ane. MSS. i. pl. 9; Pal. 
Soc. u. pl. 3), generally named, after its editor, the 
Cureton Homer, and the palimpsest fragments of St. 
Luke’s Gospel (Cut. Anc. MSS. pl. 10), which together — 
with it were re-used by a later Syrian scribe; the frag- 


9. See p. 79. 


154 Palxography. 


ments of the Pauline Epistles from Mount Athos, some 
of which are in Paris and some in Moscow (Silvestre, 
pls. 63, 64; Sabas, pl. A); the Gospels written on 
purple vellum in silver and gold, and now scattered 
between London (Cotton MS., Titus C. xv.), Rome, 
Vienna, and Patmos, the place of its origin; the frag- 
ments of the Eusebian Canons, written on gilt vellum 
and sumptuously ornamented, in the British Museum 
(Cat. Anc. MSS., i. pl. 11); the Coislin Octateuch 
(Silvestre, pl. 65) ; the Vienna Genesis, with illustra- 
tions of very great interest (Pal. Soc. i. pl. 178); the 
Rossano Gospels written in silver on purple vellum 
and also having a remarkable series of illustrations (ed. 
Gebhardt and Harnack, 1880); and the Dublin palim- 
psest fragments of St. Matthew’s Gospel and of Isaiah 
(ed. T. K. Abbott, Par Palimpsestorum Dublin.), the 
handwriting of the former using the Hyyptian forms of 
A and M, strongly marked (4, JU). 

There are also two bilingual Greeco-Latin MSS. which 
are assigned to the sixth century, viz., the Codex Bezze 
of the New Testament at Cambridge (Pal. Soc. i. 
pls. 14, 15), and the Codex Claromontanus of the Pauline 
Hpistles at Paris (Pal. Soc. 1. pls. 63, 64). But these 
were almost certainly written in France or, at all events, 
in Western Hurope, and rather belong to the domain of 
Latin paleography, as the Greek letters are to some 
extent modelled on the Latin forms. The Greek por- 
tions of the great Laurentian codex of the Pandects at 
Florence (Wattenbach, Script. Graec. Specim., tab. 7) 
should also be noticed as of this period. 

The decadence of the round uncial hand in the suc- 
cessive centuries may be seen in the second Vienna 
Dioscorides (Pal. Soc. ii. pl. 45), which is thought to be 
of the early part of the 7th century, and in the Vatican 
MS. of Pope Gregory’s Dialogues (Pal. Soc. 11. pl. 81), 
which was written, probably at Rome, in the year 800. 
But in these later centuries Greek uncial MSS. were 
more usually written in another style. 

Soon after the year 600, a variety of the ronnd unciia 
came into ordinary use—a change similar to that which 


» ΤΕΡΟΝ ΨΩ 


Greek Paleography. 155 


has been noticed as taking place in the uncial writing 
on papyrus. ‘The circular letters €, Θ, O, C become 
oval, and the letters generally a1 laterally compressed 
and appear narrow in proportion to their height, ‘The 
writing also slopes to the right, and accentuation begins 
to be applied systematically. At first the character of 
the writing was light and elegant, but as time went on 
it gradually became heavier and more artificial. A few 
scattered Greek notes are found written in this style in 
Syriac MSS. which bear actual dates in the seventh 
century (Gardthausen, Griech. Lalxog., tabie 1 of 
alphabets) ; and there are a few palimpsest fragments of 
Euclid and of Gospel Lectionaries among the Syriac 
MSS. of the British Museum, of the seventh and eighth 
centuries; but there is no entire MS. in sloping uncials 
bearing a date earlier than the ninth century. 

As an early specimen we select a few lines from the 
facsimile (Wattenbach, Script. Gr. Specim., tab. 8) of 
the fragment of a mathematical treatise from Bobio, 
now in the Ambrosian Library at Milan, which 15 assigned 
to the 7th century. 


70), ἌΡ ΞΗ THCEWAIOIKESASCAS 
WCEDHAITWAILANAIWCANKA HO 
Y/wTTpe ie 3 Ames 

Πρ τα ΠΑΝ ΤΟΤΕ FOYEX HIN 
Tp 0 ETINAETEWPOKMEYXEP EC CT ep 
ANTIK OAISH COMOTA KY EKTICENT 


MATHEMATICAL TREATISE.—71TH CENTURY. 


(τοιουτ[ ων] ἕητησεων οἰκεία Kat— | ὡς εφην τω δικαιως 

αν κληθῖεντι --- | υἱω προσηκουσα. [ Πίρωτ[ ον] plevr] 

ylap] παντίος] στερεου σχημίατος]--- | mpos τι μετεωρον 

ευὐχερεστερ[ον )--- | χανικΐ ns] ολκης οποταν εκ τίου] κεντ 
ου 


It will be seen that in this MS., intended for students? 
use and dealing with a secular subject, abbreviations are 
fairly numerous. 


156 Patlxography. 


In a more compact style, and rather heavier, is the 
Venetian codex of the Old Testament (Wattenbach, 
Script. Gr. Spectm., tab. 9), which is of the 8th or 9th 
century. Descriptive titles are written in round uncials, 
evidently in imitative style and devoid of the grace and 
ease of a natural hand, as will be seen from the fom 


[ea ILE et a CY AS AHA FUL AIGINTS A v4 IN 
TI y2 OF Ay a ae ry: 
TIEINIC6T10 YelcasIaNo Ve ἐς isha 
ENATEXYNHAT HANG AILAO 
Τόλοηδοσγονόμανοάπρος pocyepe mit 
ΠΡ] OTeinde Tene ae 
OBACIAGY CCELE IKTAC*PONTIACKUDP 'V 


OLD TESTAMENT.—8TH OR OTH CENTURY. 

καὶ μήτρα συλλήμψεως αἰῶνίας ἵνα [τί τοῦτο ἐξῆλθον ἐκ 
μήτρας" τοῦ [βλέ] | Tew κόπους καὶ πόνους" καὶ διετέλ[ ἐσαν] | 
ἐν αἱσχύνη αἱ ἡμέραι μου ----- | + Ὁ λόγος ὁ γενόμενος πρὸς 
ἵερεμί Ἴαν] | παρὰ «| υριο]υ. ὅτε ἀπέστειλεν πρὸς αὐτὸν | 
ὁ βασιλεὺς σεδεκίας" τὸν πάσχωρ᾽ v| ἰὸν]) 

At length, in the middle of the ninth century, we have 
a MS. with a date: a Psalter of the year 862, belonging 
to Bishop Uspensky (Wattenbach, Seript. Gr. Specm., 
tab, 10). 


hs [NON τ: ATT THICATIACN 


es Saat sCNIZE Ww HH 

ΣΥΝ ΤΣ Ny PON, 
TI spon 

ETE βά(6 1. AA 


> 


THY JOLY. tee 
rs VIKAS Aploy. 


USPENSKY PSALTER.—A.D. 862. 


Greck Palxography. 157 


(Ev ονομστι τῆς ἁγιας a | χράντου καὶ Swapyixi|s| | τριαδος, 
π[ατ])ρί οἷς καὶ υ[ ιο]νυ καὶ [ἁγίου πνυ[ευματο]ς ἐγράφη 
καὶ | ἐτελειώθη τὸ παρὸν ψαλ | τήριον: κελεύσει τοῦ 
a | ylov καὶ μακαρίου π[ατ]ρ[ οἽ]ς) 

In this specimen further progress is seen in the con- 
trast of heavy and light strokes, 

Other MSS. of this character are: a small volume of 
hymus in the British Museum, Add. MS. 26113, of the 
8th or 9th century (Cat. Anc. MSS. 1. pl. 14; Pal. Soe. 
11. pl. 4); a copy of Gregory of Nazianzus, written 
between 867 and 886 (Silvestre, pl. 71); the Bodleian 
Genesis (Gk. Misc. 312), of the 9th century (Pal. Soe. ii. 
pl. 26) ; a Dionysius Areopagita at Florence, also of the 
9th century (Vitelli and Paoli, Facsim. Paleogr., tav. 
17); and a Lectionary in the Harleian collection, of the 
end of the 9th or beginning of the 10th century (Cat. 
Anc. MSS. i. pl. 17). 

But by this time uncial writing had passed out of 
ordinary use, and only survived, as a rule, for church- 
books, in which the large character was convenient for 
reading in public. 


IMMENOICETHNITA pA 
δ ἘΝῚ . 7 6 
AHN TAY ORO Ht 


KACIACIATWNOYNWn 
roy 


AFICATIAS : {ἐγ δ 
EVANGELISTARIUM.—A.D. 980. 


(Εἶπεν ὁ κ[υριοὶς τὴν παραβο | λὴν ταυτ[ην] ὁμοιώθη ἡ | 
βασιλεία τῶν ov|palvev | δέκα παρθΐενοις}: προ] ἐγρα  φη] 
σα[ββατω]) 


"ον Soe, See 
ἢ ᾿ “+ >a 
Νὰ 


158 Paleography. 


In this capacity it underwent another change, the 
letters reverting from the sloping position to the upright 
position of the early uncial, and again, after a period, 
becoming rounder. This was evidently a mere calli- 
graphic development, the style being better suited for 
handsome service books. Of this character are the 
Bodleian Gospels (Gk. Misc. 313) of the 10th century 
(Pal. Soc. 11. pl. 7); the Laurentian Evangelistarium of 
the 10th century (Vitelli and Paoli, Facsim. Paleogr., 
tav. 7) ; the Harleian Evangelistarium (no, 5598), of the 
year 995 (Pal. Soc. i. pl. 26, 27) ; and the Zouche 
Evangelistarium, of 980 (Pal. Soc. 1. pl. 154), from which 
a few lines are given above. 

There are also a certain number of MSS. in which 
uncial writing appears to have been used for distinction, 
or contrast. Thus, in a MS: at Florence, of a.p. 886- 
911, containing Fasti Consulares and other matter 
arranged in tabulated form, the entries are made in a 
beautifully neat upright uncial (Vitelliand Paoli, Facsem. 
Paleogr., tav. 13, 25, 31); so also in the Florentine 
Dionysius Areopagita of the 9th century, referred to 
above, while the text is in large slanting uncials, the 
commentary is in smaller upright uncials ; and we have 
the Bodleian Psalter with catena (Gk. Mise. δ), of the 
year 950, in which the text of the Psalms is written in 
upright uncials, while the commentary is in minuscules 
(Pal. Soc. ii. 5; Gardthausen, Gr. Palzxogr., p. 159, tab. 
2, col. 4.) 

The use of small uncial writing for marginal com- 
mentaries and notes in minuscule MSS. is not uncom- 
mon during the earlier centuries after the establishment 
of the smaller style of writing asa book-hand. Asa 
late instance of the uncial being used for the text, ἃ 
page from a MS. of St. John Chrysostom, which 18 
ascribed to the 11th century, will be found in Vitelli and 
Paoli, Facsim. Paleogr., tav. 28. It appears to have 
lingered on till about the middle of the 12th century. 


CHAPTER XII. 


GREEK PALMOGRAPHY— CONTINUED, 
Minuscule Writing of the Middle Ages. 


Grrzx Minuscule MSS. of the middle ages have been 
divided into classes, as a convenient method of marking 
periods in a style of writing which, being used for the 
language of a limited area, and being subject to no ex- 
terior influence, underwent, like all isolated branches of 
writing, only a gradual change. These classes are :— 
(1) codices vetustissimt, the most ancient MSS. of the 
ninth century and to the middle of the tenth century; 
(2) codices vetusti, those which range from the middle 
of the tenth century to the middle of the thirteenth 
century ; (3) codices recentiores, from the middle of the 
thirteenth century to the middle of the fifteenth century ; 
(4) codices novelli, all MSS. of later date. 

There are still some thousand dated Greek MSS. in 
existence, in the different libraries of Europe, which 
were written before the year 1500; a list 1s given by 
Gardthausen, Griech. Pulxogr., pp. 344, sqq Of these 
almost all are written in minuscules. More than three 
hundred facsimiles, nearly all produced by photographic 
methods, and dating from the year 800 to 1593, have 
been published. Of the ninth century there are not a 
dozen dated MSS. extant; nine are represented in fac- 
simile. Ofthe tenth century there are nearly fifty; and of 
these there are nearly forty facsimiles. Of the eleventh 
century, the number rises to nearly one hundred, and 
more than sixty are given in facsimile. It is curious © 
that dated MSS. in the twelfth century are comparatively 
few—about seventy; twenty-five of which have been 


160 _ Paleography. 


vepresentcd in facsimile. In the later centuries, of 
course, they become more numerous. 


It has already been explained that the minuscule hand, | 


which almost suddenly makes its appearance asa literary 
hand in the ninth century, was nothing more than the 
cursive writing of the day written with care. The 
trained scribes made the best use of the smooth vellum 
to exhibit in their work that contrast of fine and heavy 
strokes which has always been held to impart a beauty 
to handwriting. Under this careful treatment the 
sloping tendency of a current hand was resisted, and 
the writing in its new set form became upright. 

There are, however, a few MSS. in existence which 
seem to prove that a calligraphic style, or reform, of the 
cursive hand, for literary purposes, was in partial use 
before the period of the literary minuscule of the ninth 
century. 


CAM feta TL AVY te τύ, S77 
OLN 0c ZX ASvseet 


THEOLOGICAL WORKS.—8TH OR 9TH CENTURY. 


(τεμνομενης" ἡ THE ακτίστω [και] συναιδιωζυ και ὁ] | μοουσιωι 
τριαδι μεταγενεστερᾶς τινοΐς ἡ] κτίσης ἢ ετεροουσιου 
φυσεως επεισ[αγομε] | νης [και] Tov περι τῆς ενανθρωπη- 
σεως [του κυριου}] | Aoyov αδιαστροφον σωξομεν' [και] 
τι[μοθεος] | δε ὁ ἔλουρος ὁ τῆς αληθειας ἐχθρος----). 


The writing of these MSS. slopes after the manner 
of a current hand, and yet the letters are formed witha 


Greek Palxography. 161 


uniform precision which stamps it as a hand which had 
been developed in some school of writing, which, how- 
ever, to judge from the paucity of existing specimens, 
probably had no very wide influence. A facsimile from 
a MS. of this character, and ascribed to the 8th century, 
is given by Gardthausen, Beitrage zur Griech. Palaeo- 
graphie, 1877 ; and another from a liturgical roll at Mount 
Sinai, of the 9th century, accompanies a paper by the 
same writer, Différences Procinciales de la Minuscule 
Grecque, in Mélanges Graua, 1884. <A third MS., con- 
taining a collection of theological works, from which the 
facsimile above is taken, is in the Vatican Library, and 
is probably of the end of the 8th or beginning of the 9th 
century (Pul. Soc. ii. pl. 126). 

Many of the forms of letters in this writing which are 
distinctly cursive, such as a looped alpha, the inverted 
epsilon, the h-shaped eta, and the n-shaped nu, disappear 
from, or are modified in, the more settled literary 
minuscule hand. 

But before examining in detail the progress of this 
literary hand through the different periods or classes 
which have been cnumerated, its general course of 
development may be traced in a few words. 

In the cursive writing there was never an entire sup- 
pression of the original capital forms. For example, the 
large B, A, H, K, N, and others are found side by side 
with the more cursive forms of the same letters. It was, 
therefore, only to be expected that, however rigorously 
such capital forms might be excluded from the set 
literary minuscule hand when it was written in its first 
stage of exactness, they would by degrees creep in and 
show themselves side by side with their purely mimuscule 
equivalents in literary works, just as they did in the 
ordinary cursive writings of the period. ‘his, in fact, 
happened ; and the presence of capital forms in lesser or 
greater numbers affords some criterion of theage ofa MS. 

Again, the degeneration of writing from the earliest 
models of the ninth and tenth centuries to the hurried 
styles of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries is apparent 
enough if we turn over a consecutive series of MSS. or 

12 


162 Paleography. 


Ἂς 

facsimiles. But this degeneration only became rapid, 
and, so to Say, acquired its full impetus, in the later 
centuries. And certain classes, such as liturgical MSS., 
which custom had retained for special uses, were less 
tolerant of change, and served in some measure to 
retard the disuse of the formal hands of older times. 
In the earlier centuries breathings and accents are 
applied in a style in keeping with the exact writing of 
the text; the breathings are rectangular and the accents 
are short. Afterwards, the former being more rapidly 
written become curved; and the latter are dashed on 
with a bolder stroke. Their last stage 15 when they 
even blend with the letters which they mark. 


The writing of the period of the codices vetustissimi, 
of the ninth century and to the middle of the tenth 
century, as far as is shown by surviving examples, 
is very pure and exact. The letters are most symmetri- 
cally formed; they are compact and upright, and have 
even a tendency to lean back to the left. Breathings 
are rectangular, in keeping with the careful and 
deliberate formation of the letters. In a word, the 
style being practically a new one for literary purposes, 
the scribes wrote it in their best form and kept strictly 
to the approved pattern. 

The earliest dated example of this class is the copy of 
the Gospels belonging to Bishop Uspensky, written in 
the year 835. A facsimile, but not very satisfactory, 
appears in Gardthausen’s Beitrdige and in Wattenbach 
and von Velsen’s Hxempla Codicum Graecorum, tab. 1. 
Next comes the Oxford Huclid (D’Orville MS.), which 
belonged to Arethas, Archbishop of Caesarea, and was 
written in 888. ᾿ 

The breadth of the letters will be noticed, as well as a 
certain squareness in the general character and the 
slight inclination to the left. Exact finish is best seen 
in such letters as a and 6, the final stroke of the former, 
when unconnected, being brought up to the top of the 
line, and the down-stroke of the latter being drawn right 
down to the base. The set forms into which the cursive 


Greck δαζροσγαῤλγ. 163 


, ἡ, and « are cast should also be noted. The orna- 
mental effect of the writing is added to by the slight 
turn or hook in which down-strokes terminate. Certain 
of these characteristics remain in the minuscule writing of 
succeeding centuries : others wear off and are lost as 
time advances, 


μόν get ra Ker pha τρύψωμαι. arahy 
TWOMN OTN: © qe Lyra bp Gus wrap y 
“ταν ares τον phy Spay wpreparey « 
pas joo uthawyare pre. eam ie 
eet ee apa qx} σιν λει | 
thy poz uasly. cathe tenes 
eppbyas. Srabp 68 Ad 304: 


EUCLID.—a.D. 888, 


(μεν εἰσι τα ABI ῬΦΖ τρίγωνα. απειζαντιον Se] | τα 
ΟΜΝ ΣΤΥ: ὥστε κζαι] τα στερεα παραλ[ληλεπίπεδα] | 
Ta ἀπο τῶν εἰρημένων πρισμάτων [ἀναγραφομε] | va 
ἰσοὔψη τυγχανοντα. προς ἄλληλά [εισιν ὡς ail | βάσεις 
κ[αι] τα ημιση" apa cota ὡς ἡ AZT [βασις προς] | την 
ΡΦΖ βασιν. οὕτω τα eupnueva πρίσματα προς] | αλληλα 


ὅπερ ἔδει δεῖξαι :) 


Our next facsimile, from a MS. at Paris (Omont, 
Facsimilés, pl. 1), illustrates the same class of writing, 
of rather larger type and more laterally compressed, 
the uprightness of the character being thug more 
evident. 


164 Palxography. 


wl 4 orufoio oh τόν 


tyoharyss ° Alsou 
nw TOY Tpoy sg Cee 
Tops wos Gywaytt rae 


LIVES OF SAINTS.—A.D. 890. 


(---πιστάμην δποῖος ἦν' [καὶ] τού | των λεγομενων. ἐσύ- 
ρισεν κα | 7 αυτῆς ὁ δράκων παροξυν | θεὶς σφόδρα" ἡ 
δὲ ἁγία δού | λη τοῦ ΘΓ εο]ῦ τὸν στ[αυ]ρον ἐποίησεν | τῶ 
μετόπω | καὶ] ἐν παντὶ τῶ σώ----Ὁ 


A third specimen is taken from a very beautiful MS. 
of St. Clement of Alexandria (Omont, Facsimilés, pl. 2). 
written for Archbishop Arethas, abovementioned, in the 
year 914. 


eSyop tye y Caray Gite yeas {ema γυῦχον Corsa 
arate ¢ ἔαψου σ΄. et eee 
Reap tlusay ρηατ bea Ό 

κάδε-ἀπόψαρυ : ἜΣ one ott 
SFE N° “Emenee Mean: <p 


ST, CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA.—A.D. 914, 


lal , 5 , 
(μενον ἐθνῶν: ἐπανελθόντα εἰς αἴγυπτον ἐπαγαγ έσθαι 
= \ > Ν ΄ 
texvi| | τας ἱκανοὺς" τὸν οὖν ὄσιριν, τὸν προπάτορα 
[τὸν αὐτοῦ] | δεδαλθῆναι ἐκέλευσεν αὐτὸς πολυτελῶ. 


—_ 


κ΄ 


Greek Palxography. 165 


κ[ατασκευά) | ζει δὲ αὐτὸν βρύαξις ὁ δημιουργός" οὐχ ὁ 
ἀθην[αῖος" ἄλλος] | de τίς ὁμώνυμος, ἐκείνωι τῶι βρνυάξιδι" 
ὃς, ὕλη [{}} 

And lastly of this period we give a few lines from a 
MS. of Basil's commentary on Isaiah, of the year 942 
(Omont, Facsim., pl. 4), written in a rather larger cha- 
racter, but showing very little advance on the earlier 
examples. Indeed, the writing of this first division of 
the minuscule literary hand is subject to so little change 
in its course, that it is extremely difficult to place the 
undated MSS. in their proper order of time. 


“Tron icalifcy οἱ DKS aco a 53 Ou! 
“Sap piwon crowns og oN Opa 
bin σι. ἥσθη Copter τοῖς ο cert 


ST. BASIL—A.D. 942. 


(aic@now ἤξουσιν" ὅτι οἱ μὲϊν κατὰ τὰ ἔθνη] | περιπα- 
τοῦντες" ἐν σάλω εἰσὶ διὰ τὴν ἑαυ] | τῶν κακίαν: οἱ δὲ 
τὸν νοῦν [ἑαυτῶν κεκα] | θαρμένον ἔχοντες: ὃς ὀνομά 
[ζεται σιὼν' ἐπει] | δὴ ἐκεῖθέν ἐστι τὸ σκοπευ[τήριον]) 


We now pass on to the codices vetusti, from the middle 
of the tenth century to the middle of the thirteenth 
century. But before surveying the more formal hands 
of this period, a few words should be said regarding a 
style of writing which is noteworthy, as certain impor- 
tant MSS. of classical literature, whose date it is of 
interest to determine, are written in it. 

It is not to be supposed that MSS. of the earlier 
period of minuscule writing which has been discussed, 
were only written by the most accomplished scribes and 
in the best style. The working copies of students and 


166 |  Paleography. 


scholars were no doubt then as rough and cursive in 
comparison with the facsimiles given above as a modern 
scholar’s own composition is in comparison with a printed 
text; and, except for choice copies, written for some 
special purpose, such, for example, as the Bodleian Plato 
of 895 (Pal. Soc.i. pl. 81 ; Hxempla, tab. 3), or the Harley 
Lucian of the British Museum, of the beginning of the 
tenth century (Cat. Anc. MSS.i. pl. 18; Pal. Soc. u. 
pl. 27), the extreme calligraphic style was not called 
for in books which were intended for private use. 
Hence a more fluent character of writing appears to 
have been practised as a book-hand for copies which 
would serve ordinary purposes: a good working hand, 
perfectly clear and well formed, more set and formal 
than a common cursive hand would be, but yet not 
finished off with precise care. In the tenth and eleventh 
centuries then, we find MSS. written in this style, and 
no doubt still earlier examples existed. We give fac- 
similes from two MSS., separated by an interval of 
nearly one hundred years: a Chrysostom of 954 anda 
St. Ephraem of 1049 (Omont, Facsim., pls. 5, 21). 


her ὁ PON 6N 6p μα ov Tew 

ΟΡ ο ethane pn W 50 ry w+ οὕτου- 
ὃσ. {oer Gat pS dovp Wow, 
ot ΓΚ «ὐμεεετουξ o nee cere 
ἐδέρεν.- )καὐτουύξωεδοϑιἤσιμ 


CHRYSOSTOM.—A.D. 954, 


(καὶ ὅ μὲν ἐν epnuia τῶν | προστησωμένων nv" οὗτος 
δὲ εἶχεν τοὺς ἐπιμελουμένους, | ot καὶ βαστάζοντες αὐτὸν 
ἔφερον καὶ τούτω μέν φησιν) 


See ne 


Greek Palxography. 167 


wou ἂν ΨΩ “τ rbd ree 
μί χ᾽ τί rey) FA? cory: Sbeayap x 


ΩΣ “ὐάρζε, καὶ arrdp 73 BOs 
aia όχι... Σαουλ, ye 


“S ow Bor crow ἀντ: 


fir srs δε ae yp cep χρίστονν. 


ST, EPHRAEM.—A.D. 1049, 


(τοῦ κυρίου σου μήποτε ὁ τὰ [ζιζάνια συμ] Ι μίξη τι 
τῶν ἰδίων" ἔθος yap αἰ ὐτῶ ἐ ἐστι διὰ τοῦ] | ἀγαθοῦ τὸ κακὸν 
κατεργάζεσθαι" [παρὰ κυρίου on] τήσωμεν χάριν. ἵνα ἡμῖν 
δω[ρήσηται γνῶσιν} | | καὶ] σύνεσιν τοῦ νήφειν ἐν' πᾶσι 
[κάμινος δο] | κιμάζει ἀργύριον κ᾿ αἱ] χρυσίον.) 


In the older specimen the writing is rather stiffer 
and not quite so fluent as in the other; and both are 
good characteristic specimens of their respective cen- 
turies. The St. Ephraem is the work of a very ex- 
perienced penman, who must have written with great 
ease and rapidity, without in the least degenerating in 
his style. 

The four following facsimiles will give an idea of the 
formal style of writing of the eleventh, twelfth, and 
early thirteenth centuries; and from them it will be 
seen how very gradual was the change in the actual 
torms of the letters. 

In the first, from a Chrysostom of 1003 (Omont, 
Facsim., pl. 11), the exact regularity of the tenth 
century js still remembered, but the writing is hardly 
so graceful as in the earlier examples, 


168 ΣΑΡΑΑ ΑΝ 
pratapap-r-frof as: ἱλ, 
νόγκόποοϑτο AS\pops 4 


ἱυπὸ apopmnd euro yh 
4 ᾿ νι 99 
—ufpop: μυὺ Karak» καὶ 4σ 
Φ a a 3 ΄ <= 
TO UT G2 OD POT TOO P GL COPD 
CHRYSOSTOM,—A.D. 1003. 


f ’ , ” lal r κα e 3) 
(---οἰστίαν ἀντι θυσίας. ἤ | νεγκε τῶ θεω λέγων" εἶ | ἡ 
τὸ ὄνομα K[upto]v εὐλογη | μένον νῦν καὶ ἀεὶ" καὶ εἰς | 
τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων }) 


The next is half a century later, from Saints’ Lives 
of the year 1055-6 (Omont, Fucsim., pl. 23). Here 
there is a little more tendency to roundness and rather 
less compactness. 


aurroudtolpnrt aps, 

ως ara “3 K DO sae 

“του ακι op ος or aco y τ΄ 

opt. OF TH! 

eb he 
LIVES OF SAINTS.—A.D. 1055-6. 


(αὑτοῦ διοκλητιανοῦ ΐ τὰ κατὰ ζῆλον | τοῦ ἀνδρὸς ἀγωνί | 
σματα᾽ ὃς τῆι abo | κήτω φήμη καταὶ 


γι: ν 


Greck Paleography. 169 


The third, a good characteristic specimen, from 
sermons of St. Theodore Studites, of 1136 (Omont, 
Facsim., pl. 47), is more freely written; strokes are 
lengthened, marks of contraction and accents are more 
prominent, and breathings lose their old angular shape. 


. “τ- 

j<at -πὸ -τιξειμ Kos O8 ee a 
leo’—re ip καλττεκαμειμ ry 
Dvgro xa gare sy, parce 


υκσθε αὐ ααπτεοσευκλ δ, 
SRAITOU OW TED PE 


ST. THEODORE.—A.D. 1189. 


(καὶ ποτίζειν καὶ οἷον δια | κόπτειν καὶ τέμνειν Kal | ἀπο- 
καθαίρειν. ἵνα γέ | νησθε ἄμπελος εὐκλη | ματουσα, πολὺν 
φέρουσα) 


The fourth specimen is selected from ἃ Lectionary 
of 1204 (Omont, Facsim., pl. 51), in which the old style 
of hand is maintained, but betrays its more recent date 
by its es: formation and exaggerated ae 


Ἂς ἐν ἃς 


»»αΞποσοκεοΐθεισ one. 
TERED ereuTU)* 
OU Oe η οὶ ε ori’ 
ALH GE VOUTO Ui μα). 
LN in κυ σῆς. 


LECTIONARY.-~-A.D. 1204. 


170 Ταζροργαῤῆγ. 


(ἀποκριθεὶς δὲ ὁ πέ | τρος λέγει αὐτῶ | σὺ εἶ ὁ χ[ριστὸῆς. 
καὶ ἐπετί | μησεν αὐτοὺς iva | μηδενὶ λέγωσιν πε---) 


The marks above the line, in addition to the accents, 
are to guide the intonation. 


The two hundred years, from the middle of the 
thirteenth century to the middle of the fifteenth century, 
which are given to the codices recentiores, witness more 
rapid changes than have been seen in the previous 
periods. This was naturally to be expected with the 
wider diffusion of learning and the consequent multi- 
plication of copies of books of all kinds. 

We will first examine the writing of the thirteenth 
century, taking our first facsimile from a typical MS. 
of the latter half of the century, written in the ordinary 
formal style—a Chrysostom of 1273 (Omont, Facsim., 
pl. 60). 


~™ ! Ν . --. « 
“ 
f ; a an 
Καταρ ασδλισλαξβ ROITTN ST ὦ 
7 2 > 6 
al rrap af acd ου Kabhie 
a Ν ᾽ Mi Ὲ ae 
“Trt σφ την draybrioy ΘΝ 
γι ‘9 ( ἣν τον. 

& MM axKopoy 
“τουτολάν) ort A Ser Erray F 
CuRYsostoM.—a.D. 1273. 

(---τομὴν, [καὶ] ταύτη διὰ τοῦ στί αυ]ροῦ τῆς} | κατάρας 
ἀπαλλάξας τῆς επὶ | TH παραβάσει, οὐκ ἀφῆκε δια πεσεῖν 
τὴν ἐπαγγελίαν: ὁταν  Οὖν λέγη διάκονον περίτομ[ης] | 
τοῦτο λέγη, ὅτι ἐλθὼν [καὶ] πάντα) 


As ὃ characteristic of the writing of this period, the 
persistence of enlarged or stilted letters strikes the 


Greek Paleography. 171 


eye. These forms are used sporadically in the pre- 
ceding centuries, but not so commonly as to kecome a 
feature as they do now. 

Next is given a specimen from a MS. of Theophy- 
lactus on the Gospels, of 1255 (Omont, Facsim., pl. 59), 
a MS. not of so formal a type as the last, and therefore 
bearing a more distinctive character of advance. 


~ Ἅ fe : οἷ. 
oes cu TE TWe τὴ τῶ Tadeo papTuceu ily 
So  Neorrartd padineerucios χοροῦ 


Ot Re ceeoy B43 ade ἰδ γον στο Si 

SN ξξϑ LH opreree AL IEP Skeet 

ental Prnorcoy CaeeepN Top ἘΝ putt eyo 
THEOPHYLACTUS.—A.D. 1255. 


(θαύμ[ α]τ[α]. οὔτε τὰ ἐπὶ TH τάφω papTupovpeva— | TO 
ἰδίω πάθει τῆ φιλαργυρία ὑπονοθεύ ουσί ---- | ἀσεβέστερον 
φθέγξασθαι τς ἀνοητότί ε]ρ[ ον]; ὅτι---- | οὐ διὰ τ[ὸν] φόβον 
ἀποκλεισθέντ᾽ es}, καὶ] μὴ τολ[μῶντες] --- | πέθνησκον 
ὕστερον δι᾿ αὐτὸν κηρύττοντΪες] ὅ) 


And here we turn aside from the more beaten track 
to notice the small cursive hand of this period, which is 
found occasionally in that class of MSS. to which re- 
ference has already been made as students’ books. The 
occurrence of a dated MS. written in this hand is of 
great assistance, for the freedom with which it is 
written rather influences the judgment to assign un- 
dated specimens to a later period than that to which 
they really belong. It may be observed that, though 
a good deal flourished, the innate character of the 
writing is a certain stiffness and, if we may use the 
term, a wiry aspect, which disappears in the later 
cursive hands, The MS. which supplies the facsimile 
is a commentary on Porphyry’s Introduction to Aristotle, 
of 1223 (Omont, Fucsim., pl. 52), 


Paleography. 
a κὰν ¥ 4 sage 
ἜΣ al ae | 
al γι 
U4 Han > / 
Ay ok /\ ? pan 
coupe GN ταῦ wr Saat Ns Sydeens “τ 


Seon FeCl - αὐ Ὁ αἱ ἐν τ TA TE 
.- δ Ἢ ‘ \,4 \ 
cu eat) =p woe’, ran : pres! i bk Is 


PORPHYRY.—A.D. 1228. 


(rovt| wv, ἐκεῖ εἰσὶν, [καὶ] αἱ ὑπόλοιπ οἱ]. ὅπ[ο]υ [δὲ] μία 
eG | ἐκεὶ [καὶ] π[ᾶσ]αι ἐκλείπουσι. εἰρηκότ[ ες] 
τὰς κοινωνί ας] [χωρή] | σωμ] εν] [καὶ] ἐπὶ τὰς δ[ια hol pas]. 
δευτ[έρα] [δὲ] δ ιαἸφορὰ αὐτ[ων] [ὑπέρχεται,} | ὁ τρόπος] 
τ[ῆς κατηγορίϊ! ας]. αἱ pL ev] yap | ἐν τῷ τί [ἐστιν] κατΉγ0 
[ροῦντες] | ὥσπερ τὸ γένος Κ᾿ αἱ τὸ εἶδος" αἱ [δὲ] ἐν τῶ 
ὁποῖον [τί ἐστιν] | τον ἡ ὃδ[ια φορὰ), [καὶ] τὸ ἴδιον, 


κ[αὶ] τὸ συμβεβηκός]. 


To compare with this, a few lines follow from a MS. 
written in the same style a hundred years later, the 
History of Barlaam and Josaphat, of 1921 (Omont, 
Facsim., pl. 78), the writing of which, it will be ob- 
served, is slacker. 


PS W ᾿οὐδὼς «νοι [nlp d apn 
οὐτωφάλνο 7 ας παν ees “ἐσὺ 
BAT MOL = eee γρῖ τ; 
ΝΙΝ ἀν λυδνων 7 χες κα To 
ahd ype (τ uly. me Pre Sreky’ 


BARLAAM AND JOSAPHAT.—A.D. 1321. 


Greck Palxography. 173 


(φύσεως] ἡμ[ῶν], οὐδὲ ἐν τούτω TH μέρει adi Kev ἡμᾶς] | 
ἀνιάτρευτα voce]. ἀλλ᾽ ὡς πάνσοφος ἰαΐ τρὸς τῆ] | ὀλι- 
σθῆρα ἡμ[ῶν] | καὶ] φιλαμαρτήμονι γνώμη, [συνέμιξε] | τὸ 
φάρμακον τ[ῆς] μετανοί[ας]. κηρύξας ταύΐτην εἰς] | ἄφεσί εν] 
ἀμαρτιῶν. μετὰ γὰρ τὸ λαβ] εἴν | —) 

To illustrate the writing of the fourteenth century, 
we first select a Psalter of the year 1304 (Omont, Facsim., 
pl. 75), just one hundred years later than the formally- 
written Lectionary of 1204, of which a facsimile is 
given above. 


Εἰ Us OL 
PSALTER.—A.D. 1904. 

(Διαμενεῖ εἰς τὸν [αἰῶνα ἐνώ] | πιον τοῦ θ[εο]ῦ: | "EXeos 
καὶ ἀλήθειαν αὐτοῦ τίς] ἐκζητήσει: ἰΟυτως ψαλῶ τῶ 
ὀϊνοματί σου] | εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνα! ς  :) 

The very conservative nature of the formal writing of 
liturgical books could not be better illustrated than by 
this large hand of the fourteenth century, which reverts 


so distinctly to early models. But its artificial character 
is at once apparent when it is compared in detail with 


174 Palexography. 


the more ancient writings of the tenth and eleventh 
centuries which it imitates. 

Next follow two specimens of a more general character, 
in which the transition from the style of the middle 
ages towards that of the modern school of writing is 
very marked. ‘The first is taken from a Manual of 
Jurisprudence by Constantine Harmenopoulos, of 1351 ; 
the second is from a MS. of Herodotus, of 1372 (Omont, 
Faesim., pls. 85, 96). 

In both of these specimens there will be observed 
instances of the late practice of writing accents as if 7 
integral parts of the letters. } 


TOGUU, K Mu Sou wp ad Ty AKA G 
ex d' GNC KAN CE WS, WKIAd Top τεζὰ 2 
Bh aged τ medmde swne ta 
arp drivn sweep rede wae LaDy 
οὐ δ aniasTon-mpadone. wi KCN 


CONSTANTINE HARMENOPOULOS.—A.D. 1351. 


(τίθεται, καλεῖσθαι παρὰ τοῦ δικαστί οὔ] ---- | ἑκάστης 
κλήσεως, οὐκ ἔλαττον τριάϊ κοντα ]--- | διαστήματι περι- 
κλειομένης" [καὶ] ἐαν]--- | παραγένηται, ἢ ἐντολέα πέμψη, 
δί[δοσθαι---- | ἑτέρου ἐνιαυτοῦ προθεσμία" ἧς ἐν] τὸς 7--- 


“τὰν Real LW, ὁ OUST aot GO 
ὕμνου regard) Cro: πῶν οὖν πὸρ 4 
Ry τι κι, pt ous KOREOS E51 “προς 
Cote +4 w- οἵ φαὐὐ TO rune KE LY αν 
οἱ“ταλλουσσον Tots ome THY: 45 


HERODOTUS.—A.D. 1372. 


Greck Paleography. 175 


(τὴν ἀγγελίην, ὅτι οὐδὲν ποιήσομ[εν]-- Ι ὑ ὑμέων προσε- 
δέετο᾽ σρίν ὧν trapei[var|— | τὴν ἀττικήν, ἡμέας καιρός 
ἐστι προβ[οηθῆσαι --- | βοιωτίην" οἱ μὲν, ταῦτα ὑποκριναμ 
[ἐνων --- | «ἀπαλλάσσοντο ἐς σπάρτην.) 


In the fifteenth century the varieties of handwriting 
become most numerous, and it is impossible to do more 


than select a few specimens to illustrate the period." 


For the first half of the century two examples may 
suffice, the first from a Polybius of 1416 (Pal. Soc. 1. 
pl. 134) ; and the other from a MS. of Simplicius upon 
the Physics of Aristotle, written by John Argyropoulos 
at Padua in 1441 (Omont, Facsim. av. et avi. s., pl. 24), 
in a style which recalls the cursive hand of the thirteenth 
and fourteenth centuries represented above. 


cey, Pino phe Buy Aousdoivoj ϑῇ 
Keene: xd οὖ Bec Deve: οἵ σὲ PwrsnOl, 
O πον. egpily ou πῶλοι “πο fi Cod oli 6} 
2Mot- set βδφίλόφίλον AEE ‘aves a 


eiow 7016 DIAG reer 9753» pe: Kea 
τίς jsoeé Ὁ 2 30< eb et ey & “τὶς. S 


POLYBIUS.—A.D. 1416. 


(—av, φιλῴω μὲν πάντα δοχοῦσιν οἱ καρ | — καλῶς 
ἀνδρωδῶς. οἱ δὲ ῥωμαῖοι, | --- [το]ύτων' ἐν μὲν οὖν τῶ λοιπῶ 
βίω id τοι | —[é« β] άλλοι Kai γὰρ φιλόφιλον δεῖ εἶναι 
τ[ὸν] | -- συμ]μισεῖν τοῖς φίλοις τοὺς ἐχθροὺς" καὶ | ---τῆς 
ἱστορί[ας] ἦθος ἀναλαμβάνη τις, ἐπι). 


The frequent dotting of the cota in this MS. is peculiar. 


1 Monsieur Omont’s Fuc-simi/és de Manuscrits Grecs des αὐ" 
et xvi siécles, 1887, contains an interesting series of specimens of 
the writing of various Greek professional calligraphists of those 
centuries, who settled in Italy and Western Europe under stress 
of the Ottoman invasion and were employed as copyists by 
patrons of literature, or as correctors for the press. 


176 Patleography. 


CH Ix © Cacoyi σα; jor Pra] Wor , 
‘\gs ΚΝ opie οὖ Guplekd 
Teno }es - Nays Ex wr Cj oy hor 
reps yer wet » cop us) bY γῆ ον, 
Bij 4 is, rea ge Qyals- εν; Qe’ 
eo ie SPayh'ns Umi-Giou =f 
Cray ERY os Aas 0) Su! & Sty 
fre ss Coy Taree ἐν ob bh 


) 
SIMPLIcIUS.—a.D. 1441. 

(—oai τε [καὶ] βασανίσαι τῶν ᾿φυσικῶν Γ τὰς στοιχει- 
ὦδεις ἀ ἀρχὰς ἀν ευρίσκει | πρώτας. δεικνὺς € ἐκ τῶν ἐναντίων le 
εἶναι τὰς γενήσεις" ὧν κοινότατον, | τό, τε εἶδος, [καὶ] ἡ 
στέρησις. [καὶ] ἐ ἔτι, ἐκ : τοῦ τοῖς ἐναντίοις ὑποκειμένου. | 
[καὶ] δὴ [καὶ] Tep ll τῆς ὕλης, OTL τὲ ἐστὶν | ἀποδείξας, 
| καὶ] ὅτι ὑποκείμενον τοῖς) 

To illustrate the codices novelli of the fifteenth and 
sixteenth centuries, first a few lines are taken from a 
formally-written Menzeum, or offices for saints’ days, of 
the year 1460 (Pal. Soc. 1, pl. 233), the writing of which 
recalls the style of the thirteenth century. 


(der nwpd pews ae i thw rep pict spay 


apecomuapuyiapovwe tad fora: oer 


\ 


podun ποξδετοῦ Ge eave εἰρῆγ Ol 


7 
Ὁ, πρμψνεφινοι! Speke μυτωξο ue ar 
ae \ 
obs ayy Tepoc ὕλαψοῦσας durrlurasuyey pote 
ΕΒ δ» 


up Spake παρ στον, G) Top πρὶ γον» usp 


MENEUM.—aA.D. 1460, 


δου δέν Δ ἑκβνν. διὰ ᾿μἀμδννω.. 


τ εν 


Greck Palxography. 177 


(εἰδώλων θρησκίας ἐπὶ τὴν τῶν χριστιἀνῶν--- | πρὸς σὲ 
κοινωνίαν οὐ καταδέχομαι. ὁ δὲ τῶ--- | μὴ δυνηθέντος 
δὲ τοῦ [ar |p[o]s ἀπὸ τῆς εἰς ἱριστὸν πίστε[ ως 1---- | τῶ 

τῷ μνηστίρι καὶ ἐπάρχω εἰς reels τοὺς κρατο[ῦντας }— | 
ὁ δὲ τοῦ χιτῶνος γυμνώσας αὐτὴν καὶ νεύροις--- | τῶν 
καταξανας. | και] τῶν τριχῶν ἐκκρεμάσας) 


The next example is from a carefully written copy of 
the Odyssey, the work of the calligraphist John Rhosos, 
of Crete, who was employed in Rome, Venice, Florence, 
and other cities of Italy. It is dated in 1479 (Pal. Soc. 
1, pl. 182). 


as Cipar- ΠΥΡΌΣ. Oxo ταρὶ φρωγ Cupunnes 
ἀβετκιν δαροντεύρκαι θέον, dariop ὁ λὺ οσεὶς 
AE Dit βείω σεν κε hpoy καὶ δεῖ, καὶ ἀωᾷ, oe 
“ppc δάυτάπει Inthe DiaPEnamer SBT 
pean rangi as OTs over γέ coQ-ay - 


Dh ody seas pore Seve ped Cpoip yExeu 


HOMER.—aA.D. 1479. 


(Ὡς ἔφατ'᾽ οὐδ᾽ ἀπίθησε περιφρων evpvKdrera’ 
ἤνεγκεν δ᾽ ἄρα πῦρ καὶ θηιον, αὐτὰρ ὀδυσσεὺς 
εὖ διεθείωσεν μέγαρον καὶ δῶμα καὶ αὐλ[ὴν]. 

[οὶ 9 ee ὅκα; / \ >» 9 fal 
yphus δ᾽ abt’ ἀπέβη διὰ Smpata κάλ᾽ ὀδυσῆος. 
ἀγγελέουσα γυναιξὶ καὶ ὀτρυνέουσα νεεσθαι᾿ 
ai δ᾽ ἴσαν ἐκ μεγάροιο δάος μετὰ χερσὶν ἔχουσαι.) 


Finally, to conclude this section of Greek Paleography, 
the following five facsimiles represent some of the many 
styles of the more or less cursive handwriting of the 
century between 1497 and 1593 :— 


i, Pausanias, written at Milan, in 1497, by Peter 
Hypsilas, of Zigina (Omont, op. cit, , pl. 44), in a good 
and regular upright hand, compressed. 

13 


178 Pateogriaphy. 


q lo) Io > ! ! 
soni er > ὦ μὴ," teed ζιγ κύ LS 
? Ι ν 
aulds 0805 asd Atay δνων ε rglor Be LY vawdird 
for ' { Se a Le a | 
Jetsloresyestornapnd ease Lvspor Ose ἐμοὶ died afl. 
Vf / ly Oe 5. ν ( ι{ 
Οτον μος δ δεν ὡς ἐπι ται squat aryl ἡ κα 
Ἶς } χε 2 Ι Ι ) in Js { 
ved Mmsinopoicescy Ra νίαν ἐδοβος EEA Gr Aes 
os | es ι νυν { A { 
Οὐαί οι 4 oR ymhesd vs δ τῷ (ν carl: vy bales) 
PAUSANIAS.—A.D. 1497, 
(κατ΄ θέμενος tas πε Bods ταὐτ[ ας] [καὶ] ἀρχὴν τὴ» 
ἑαυτοῦ. πεποίηκε S€— | ἀντήνορος τὸ πρῶτα τῶν ἔδνων'" 
ἑκατὸν βοῦς τῶν πενθερῷ--- | τοὺς τότε χαιρειν μάλιστα 
ἀνθρώπους. ἐνέμοντο δὲ ἐμοὶ δοκεῖν αι To— | ὑπόψαμμός 
τε [ἀρ] ἐστιν ὡς ἐπίπαν ἡ τῶν πυλίων Ywpa’ [καὶ] πόαν--- 
μαρτυρεῖ δὲ μοι [καὶ] ὅμηρος ἐν μνημὴη νέστορος ἐπιλέγων 
ἀεὶ---- | τοῦ λιμένος δὲ ἡ σφακτηρία νῆσος προβέβλητ[αι] 
καθάπερ) 
ii. Ptolemy’s Almagest, written at Mantua, in 1518, 
by Michael Damascenos, of Crete (Omont, op cit., pl. 


36), in a compact hand, not unlike that of the last 
specimen, but a littie more elaborate. 


νὰ de) {πὶ newer lures pent Eon ταΐω 
, ~ 


ee 


οὐ τον, f “ i ” 
wy Wy Nagrour (πὰ πὸν oy {πὶ wo IAN Bos 
| a 


Pea Ay 


eOyH ἌΣ νων a SOs why, 
Apel wen ον Guild WO AD WY La 


NT 


ae Ε ι , ; 
ς υἷος νας ange grees Ig Σιν Ψ μι 


“als. hes ° (ἧς δὲ ενερῖνν mary Petits ? 19h 0 


PTOLEMY.—A.D. 1518. 


νοι PUP. Ain, 


Oe ing, Bh τὴ, 


Pipi ions im LE 


Greek Palxography. 179 


(καὶ παρὰ τὸν ἐπικυκλον, ἐγκεκλιμένους ἐπὶ πάντων--- | 
πρὸς τὸ τοῦ δια μέσων ἐπίπεδον" κ[αὶ] τὸν ἐπίκυκλον 
mpos— ἰ ὡς ἔφαμ[εν] διὰ τοῦτο γινομένης ἀξιολόγου 
παραλλαη] fs |— | παρόδον. ἢ τὰς ἀποδείξεις τῶν ἀνωμαλιῶν 
μέχρι ye— | [ὡς] ἐν τοῖς ἐφεξῆς στήσομ[εν]. ἕνεκ[ εν] [δὲ] τοῦ 
διὰ τῶν “κ[ αἰτ[ἃ] μέροΪς]--- | αὐτῶν ὅταν 6 τε τοῦ διευκρι- 
νημένου μήκους, καὶ ὃ---) 

iii. The Manual of Jurisprudence by Constantine 
Harmenopoulos, written in Chios, in 1541, by Jacob 


Diassorinos, of Rhodes (Omont, op, cit., pl. 23), in the 
loose straggling hand characteristic of the period. 


ιϑήγυ οὐ αὐ Ἵν gasfen ang ceyy οὐ fui 
Uh po einai rogbion ah 
ΣΙΝ ἼΩΙΣ υὐδ οι nally 
γῶν V 9g πενονοἱὰ flo “PAIN ov. we Tp 


CONSTANTINE HARMENOPOULOS.—a.D. 1541. 


(---θελον ἐν αὐτῆ γράψαι, καὶ ὕστερον ἐνθυμ[ηθῆ ταῦτα] | 
τότε ypad| éreo | χαρτίον ἄλλο, ᾿διαλαμβάνον περὶ [ὧν 
ἐπεκάθετο] | ἐν τῇ διαθήκ[η] εἰπεῖν. καὶ λέγ[εἸτί αὐ] τοῦτο 
κωδίκελλ[ος, ἤ ἤγουν μι] | Kpov χαρτόπουλον, ἢ βιβλίδιον. ὡς 
τοῦ μὲν) 


iv. Allian’s Tactics, written at Paris, in 1564, by 
Angelus Vegecius, of Crete (Omont, op. cit., pl. 2), in 
quite a modern style of hand, but compact. 


180 Paleography. 


1 ae ε 7 4 Δι 
πον» λιούδῆ, ὀηκό φϑείσαζαεσι T boy ceut = 
1. 9.7 e/@7 δε i o 
Save, oichu ovlas te ξαν ας ἐσσίας “5077 
‘ ! \ ΝᾺ 
wlydy- εὗδε, σοιγάν δὼ, cpelide Cody: AS, 
2 re \gt eH) of 
Ardy, OVS ude. Cstsy Je Cob sg ὡς 624 
\ \ Ge / 4, 
oid Ges C9 naleors Cseepdy ”) ᾧγή; Comp evles 2G - 
ν()}αἐ Gl Dh 12» ξεν εις, ἐξδὰ ae 
ἦαν ypeega Gu b!P 11» ζϑναες, € AaSg 
ELIAN.—a.D. 1564. 
(τῶν δὲ ἐν τοῖς ῥομβοειδέσι σχήμασι t[ nv] ἵππον συντα- | 
ξάντ[ων), of μὲν οὕτως ἔταξαν ὥστε τοὺς ἱππέας κ[αὶ] 
στοιχῖ εἰν] | κ[αὶ] ζυγεῖν. οἱ δὲ, στοιχεῖν μὲν, οὐκ ἔτι 
δὲ ζυγεῖν. οἱ δὲ, | ζυγεῖν μὲν, οὐ στοιχεῖν dé. ἑκάστη δὲ Takis 
οὕτως ἔχει. | οἱ μὲν τοὺς ῥόμβους [καὶ] στοιχεῖν κ᾿ αἱ] ζυγεῖν 
βουληθέντες, ἔτα | Eav τὸν μέγιστ ον] τὸν ἐν τῇ ἔλη ζυγὸν 
μέσον] ἐξ ἀριθμοῦ) 
v. The Synatagma Canonum of Matthew Blastares, 
written at Rome, in 1595, by John Hagiomauros, of 


Cyprus (Omont, op. cit., pl. 31), in a loose hand of 
modern type. 


fap yeapqy org "κεν" οὗ pally aya χὰ 
Meyen'9 qv ony Dagws Eien! a9 xb yy 
συμσπτωγού Toit ᾧ αδίξγον» I uberCorre 
nlew y vinng Ep recep Ὁ' χοὶ διωγοία. 5 ee 527 
μὲ, χρὴ λόγω Saveesilas θυμοί δ). np 


BLASTARES.—A.D. 1598. 


4. 4 
> 
7 
’ 


Greck Paleography. 181 


(--δάφει γράφειν ἀπεὶρηκεν: οὐ μήν ἀλλὰ Kal— | 
διαγράφειν ἀνενδιάστως ἐπισκήπτει [καὶ] ἐξαλ---- | συμπατ- 
ούμ[εν]ον τοῖς βαδίζουσιν, ἐξυββρίζοιτο--- | ἡμῶν νίκης 
τρόπαιον" τὸ καὶ διανοίᾳ, αἰδοῖ--- |---μ[εν)ον, καὶ λόγῳ 
διαφερόντως θαυμαζόμ εν)ον κα--- 


Greek Writing in Western Europe. 


Before closing the division of our work which relates 
to Greek Palzography, a few MSS. may be quoted 
which illustrate the course of Greek writing in Western 
Europe. We refer, however, only to those MSS. which 
are written in actual Greek letters or in imitative letters, 
not to those in which Greek words or texts are inscribed 
in ordinary Latin letters, of which there are not a few 
examples. 

Two celebrated MSS. of the 6th century containing 
bilingual texts have already been referred to” as having 
been written in Western Europe. The ‘‘ Codex Beze,” 
of the Gospels and Acts of the Apostles, at Cambridge, 
and the “ Codex Claromontanus,” of the Epistles of St. 
Paul, at Paris, are both written in Greek and Latin in 
uncial letters. But in these MSS. the Greek text is in 
letters which are of the ordinary type of Greek uncials 
of the period. In a third example of a bilingual text, 
the Harley MS. 5792 (Cat. Anc. MSS. pt. i pl. 18 ; 
Pal. Soc. 11. pl. 25), which contains a Greco-Latin 
Glossary, written probably in France in the 7th century, 
the Greek writing betrays its western origin very 
palpably. Still more distinctly imitative is the Greek 
text in the “ Codex Augiensis,” of Trinity College, Cam- 


' bridge, in which the Epistles of St. Paul were written 


in Latin minuscules and Greek bastard uncials, in the 
latter part of the 9th century, at Reichenau in Bavaria 
(Pal. Soc. i. pl. 127) ; in a Greco-Latin MS. of some of 
the Psalms, in the Library of St. Nicholas of Cusa, of the 
same character, written early in the 10th century (Pal. 


2 See p. 154. 


182 Palxography. 


Soc. i. pl. 128) ; and in the “ Codex Sangallensis ” and 
‘Codex Boenerianus”” of Dresden, which once formed 
one MS. and contain the Gospels in Latinized Greek 
letters of the 10th century, with an interlinear Latin 
version (Pal. Soc. i. pl. 179). 

A few instances survive of the employment of Greek 
letters in Latin signatures and subscriptions to docu- 
ments of the sixth and seventh centuries from Ravenna 
and Naples (Marini, 1 Papiri Diplom., 90, 92, 121; 
Cod. Diplom. Cavensts, il. no. 250; Pal. Soc. i. 8) ; 
and the same practice appears to have been followed in 
France and Spain as late as the eleventh century.® 
But we may regard such a superfluous use of a foreign 
alphabet, at least in most instances, as a mere affectation 
of learning. In the ornamental pages of fanciful letters, 
also, which adorn early Anglo-Saxon and Franco-Saxon 
MSS., a Greek letter occasionally finds a place, serving, 
no doubt, to show off the erudition of the illuminator,* 


8. Bibliothéque de l’ Ecole des Chartes, (2nd series) tom. i. p. 443; 
Delisle, Mélanges de Paléographie, p. 95. 
* Delisle, L’ Lvangéliaire de Saint-Vuast d’ Arras. 


CHAPTER XIII. 


LATIN PALHZOGRAPHY. 


WE now proceed to trace the history of Latin Palzo- 
graphy ; and the scheme which will be followed in this 
division of our subject may first be briefly described. 

Latin majuscule writing, in its two branches of (1) 
Square capitals and Rustic capitals, and (2) Uncials— 
the most ancient forms of the Latin literary script— 
naturally claims our first attention. Next, the modified 
forms of Uncial writing, viz., the mixed hands of uncial 
and minuscule letters, and the later developed Half- 
uncial writing, will be examined. We shall then have 
to pass in review the various styles of Roman Cursive 
writing, beginning with its earliest examples, and from 
this we shall proceed to follow the course of the Con- 
tinental National Minuscule hands, which were directly 
derived from that source, down to the period of the 
reform of the Merovingian school in the reign of 
Charlemagne. The independent history of the early 
Trish and English schools forms a chapter apart. From 
the period of Charlemagne to the close of the fifteenth 
century, the vicissitudes of the literary handwritings of 
Western Europe will be described; and this portion of 
our work will be brought to a close with some account 
of the Cursive writing, and particularly of the English 
Charter-hands of that time. 


Majuscule Writing.— Capitals. 


Latin Majuscule writing, as found in early MSS.,is . 
divided into two branches: writing in Capitals, and 
writing in Uncials. Capitals, again, are of two kinds, 
Square Capitals and Rustic Capitals. The most ancient 


184 Paleography. 


/ 
Latin MSS. in existence are in Rustic Capitals; but 
there is no reason to presume that the rustic hand was 
employed in MSS. before the square hand, nay, rather, 
following the analogy of sculptured inscriptions, the 
preference as to age should be given to square letters. 

Capital writing, in its two styles, copies the letterings 
of inscriptions which have been classed under the heads 
of “ scriptura monumentalis” and “ scriptura actuaria,” 
as executed in the time of Augustus and successive 
emperors’; the square character following generally 
the first, and the rustic the second. 

In square capital writing the letters are generally of 
the same height ; but F and L are commonly exceptions. 
The angles are right angles, and the bases and tops and 
extremities are usually finished off with the fine strokes 
and pendants which are familiar to all in our modern 
copies of this type of letters. 

Rustic capitals, on the other hand, are, as the name 
implies, of a more negligent pattern, but as a style of 
writing for choice books they were no less carefully 
formed than the square capitals. But the strokes are 
more slender, cross-strokes are short and are more or 
less oblique and waved, and finials are not added to 
them. Being thus, in appearance, less finished as perfect 
letters, although accurately shaped, they have received 
the somewhat misleading title which distinguishes them. 
More than is the case with square capital writing, there 
is a greater tendency in certain rustic letters to rise 
above the line. 

The fact that a large proportion of the surviving 
MSS. in capital letters of the best class contain the 
works of Virgil points to the same conclusion as that 
suggested by the discovery of comparatively so many 
copies of the Iliad of Homer in early papyri, and by the 
existence of the Bible in three of the most important 
Greek vellum codices which have descended to us: 
namely, that a sumptuous style of production was, if 
not reserved, at least more especially employed for those 


1 See Hrempla Scripturae Epigraphicae Latinae (Corpus In- 
serupt. Lat.), ed. Hiibner, 1385. 


ᾳ, 


ee ce eas eer et Vie eee 


Latin Palxography. 185 


books which were the great works of their day. Homer 
in the Greek world, Virgil in the classical period of 
Rome, and the Bible in the early centuries of the 
Christian Church, filled a space to which no other books 
of their time could pretend. And the survival of even 
the not very numerous copies which we possess is an 
indication both that such fine MSS. were more valued 
and better cared for than ordinary volumes and that 
they must have existed in fairly large numbers. With 
regard to the works of Virgil and their sumptuous pro- 
duction, it will not be forgotten that Martial, xiv. 186, 
singles out a MS. of this author to be decorated with 
his portrait. 


Of Square Capital writing of ancient date there is 
very little now in existence, viz., a few leaves of a MS. 
of Virgil, divided between the Vatican Library and 
Berlin, which are attributed to the close of the 4th 
century (Z. W. Ez. 14); and a few from another MS. 
of the same poet, of the 4th or 5th century, preserved 
in the library of St. Gall in Switzerland (Z. W. Ez. 14 a; 
Pal. Soc. i. pl. 208). We take a specimen from a 
facsimile of one of the latter: 


IDALIAELVCOSVBIM 


FLORIBVSETDVLCIAD 
IAMQ:IBATDICTOPAR 


VIRGIL.—4TH OR 5TH CENTURY. 


(Idaliae lucos ubi m{ollis]— | Floribus et dulci ad— | Iamque 
ibat dicto par[ens]—) 
It is certainly remarkable that this large character 


should still have been employed at the time to which 
these fragments of square-capital MSS, are attributed, 


_? Zangemeister and Wattenbach, Brempla Codicum Latinorum 
litteris majusculis scriptorum, Heidelberg, 1876, 1879. 


ΓΤ. τ 


186 Palxography. 


so long after the classical period of Rome. The use ot : 
80 inconvenient a form of writing, and one which 
covered so much material in the case of any work of 
average extent, would, it might be thought, have been 
entirely abandoned in favour of the more ready uncial 
character, or at least of the less cumbersome rustic 
capitals. Its continuance may be regarded as a survival 
of a style first employed at an early period to do honour 
to the great national Latin poet; and may, in some 
degree, be compared with the conservative practice in 
the middle ages of keeping to an old style of writing 
for Biblical and lturgical MSS. The same remark 
applies also to the comparatively Jate employment of 
Rustic Capital writing under similar conditions. 

This latter style of writing is found in the earliest 
extant Latin MSS. In some of the papyrus fragments 
recovered at Herculaneum it is of a character copied 
closely from the lettering of inscriptions on stone or 
metal (Z. W. He. 1, 2); in others it is of a less severe 
style. We give a specimen from the fragments of a 
pvem on the Battle of Actium (Fragmentu Herculanensia, 
ed. W. Scott, 1885), written in light, quickly-formed 
letters, which must have been very generally used for 
literary purposes at the period of the destruction of 
Herculaneum in Α.Ὁ. 19. 


GERYVICIBNUSASTIDEXAOLL 
NUNATRAH ITURQNIE LTB IDI 
b RBIS HY N COSINE MOR 
SUPT ARSINLITA PARNANY 


POEM ON THE BATTLE OF ACTIUM.—BEFORE A.D. 79, 


(cervicibus . aspide . moll{em] | [somn Jum . trahiturque . lilidi 
[ne . mortis .1 | brevis . hune . sine . mor(sibus . anguis .] Ι 
[68]. pars . inlita . parva . v[eneni.]) 


Latin Paleography. 187 


Here the words are separated from one another with 
the full point, as in inscriptions. Long vowels are also, in 
many instances, marked with an accent; in the case of 
long i, the form of the accent (if accent it be) is rather 
that of the letter itself, and the seribe may have in- 
tended to indicate the length of the vowel by doubling it. 

Specimens of nearly all the existing vellum MSS. 
written in rustic capital letters are represented in fac- 
simile in the Hxempla of Zangemeister and Wattenbach, 
the publications of the Paleographical Society, and 
other works. ‘he writing on this material is of a more 
careful type than that which we have seen in the last 
facsimile from a papyrus MS. -The estimation of the 
age of the earliest of these MSS. is necessarily a matter 
of uncertainty, as we have no specimen to which a date 
can be approximately assigned before the end of the 
fifth century. But some of them may be placed earlier 
than that period. For example, the palimpsest frag- 
ments of the Verrine Orations of Cicero, in the Vatican 
Library (Z. W. Ez. 4), are generally assigned to the 
fourth century. But the MSS. which before all others 
approach nearest in the forms of their letters to those 
of inscriptions, are the two famous codices of Virgil, 
known as the “Codex Romanus,’ and the ‘“ Codex 
Palatinus” (Z. W. He. 11, 12; Pal. Soc. i. pl. 118-115). 
In these the sty!e of lettering found in formal inscriptions 
of the first century of our era has been closely followed; 
and although no one has ever thought of placing the 
MSS. in so remote a period, yet it has been suggested 
that scribes may have kept up the style without de- 
generation for one or two centuries, and that they may 
therefore be as old as the third century. Others are of 
opinion that they are merely imitative, and that the 
Codex Romanus in particular, on account of the bar- 
barisms of its text and the coarse character of the 
pictures with which it is illustrated, must be of a later 
date. These objections, however, are not conclusive, 
and taking the writing alone under judgment, there 
seems to be no reason for dating the MSS. later, at all 
events, than the fourth century. | 


188 Paleography. 


The following facsimile is from the Codex Palatinus 
(Pal. Soe. i. pl. 115) :--- 


VOLVITVAATERO DORTILCTISTV 
INIVSSAXASONANIVACVAS 
ACC] DITIHALCLESSISETLAMIO 

QVAITOTAMIVCTVCONCVSSII 


VIRGIL.—4TH CENTURY (?). 


(Volvitur ater odor tectis tu[m]— | Intus saxa sonant vacuas 
— | Accidit haee fessis etiam fo[rtuna]— | Quae totam luctu 
concussit—) 


In this writing the contrast of the thick and fine 
strokes is as strongly marked as in inscriptions on stone 
or metal. Shortness of horizontal strokes, smallness of 
bows, as seen in letter R, and general lateral compression 
are characteristic. The formation -of the letter H is 
easily explained by referring to the same letter in the 
second liue of the facsimile from the poem on the Battle 
of Actium. It recalls the formation of the common 
truncated h-shaped δέω in Greek papyri. ‘The points 
are inserted by a later hand. 


Another famous MS. of Virgil in rustic capitals is 
that known as the “‘ Schedze Vaticanz,” which is orna- 
mented with a series of most interesting paintings in 
classical style, no doubt copied from more ancient proto- 
types (Z. W. He. 138; Pul. Soc. ἃν pl. 116,117). 1t is 
assigned to the 4th century. 

But the first rustic MS. to which an approximate date 
can be given is the Medicean Virgil in the Laurentian 
Library at Florence (Z. W. Hz. 10; Pal. Soc. i. pl. 86). 
A note at the end of the Bucolics states that the MS. 
was read, pointed, and corrected by the “consul ordi- 
narius” Asterius, who held office in the year 494. 


Latin Palexography. 189 


Consequently, the text must have been written at or 
before that date. A specimen is here given :— 


NONILLUMNOSTAILOSSUNTAIUTAREL ARG 
NECSLENICOALBAIEDLISH ED AUALQ BIBAAI 
SIITHLONIASQ°NIUESHIEMISSUBEANUSA 
NiCSICUAAMLORIENSALTA LIBERA AELINUL 


VIRGIL.—BEFORE A.D. 494. 


(Non illum nostri possunt mutare labo[res. ] 

Nee si frigoribus mediis . Hebrumqwe bibam[us. ] 
Sithoniasque nives - hiemis subeamus a[quosae. ] 
Nec si cum moriens . alta Liber aret in ul| mo]). 


Among the remaining older MSS. of this style the 
most important is the Codex Bembinus of Terence 
(Z. W. Ex. 8,9; Pal. Soc. i. pl. 135) in the Vatican 
Library, a MS. of the 4th or dth century, which takes 
its name from a former owner, Bernardo Bembo, in the 
fifteenth century, and whtoly 1 is valuable on account of its 
annotations. 

This handsome but inconvenient style of literary 
writing could not be expected to last, even for éditions 
de luxe, for a very long period. There still survives, 
however, one very finely executed MS., the poems of 
Prudentius, in the Bibliothéque Nationale at Paris 
(Z. W, Ex. 15; Pal. Soc. i. pl. 29, 30), written with great 
skill, but thought not to be earlier than the 6th century. 
In the Turin Sedulius (Z. W. Hz. 16) of the 7th cen- 
tury the rustic letters have altogether passed out of the 
domain of calligraphy in its true sense, and are rough 
and mis-shapen. Lastly, we may notice a MS. which, 
on account of its contents and history, has attracted 
more than usual attention—the Utrecht Psalter, which is 
written in rustic capitals and yet can be scarcely older 
than the beginning of the 9th century. Copied from 
an ancient original which was illustrated with drawings. 


190 Faleography. 


it seems that, in order to maintain the same relative 
arrangements of text and drawings, the scribe found it 
the simplest course to copy the actual character of the 
letters, the text thus filling the same space as the original 
and leaving the proper intervals for the insertion of the 
drawings. And yet the text was not so exactly copied 
as to be quite consistent with ancient usage; for titles 
are introduced in uncial letters—an intrusion which would 
have been quite impossible in the earlier and purer period 
of rustic capital writing. In a word, the form in which 
the Utrecht Psalter is cast must be regarded as accidental 
—a mere imitation of a style which had practically passed 
away. 

Judging by the specimens which have survived, capital 
writing may be said to have ceased to exist as a literary 
hand for entire texts about the close of the fifth century. 
In the middle ages it survived, in both square and rustic 
styles, as an ornamental form of writing for titles and 
initials, and occasionally for a few pages of text. For 
example, in the Psalter of St. Augustine’s, Canterbury, 
of the beginning of the 8th century, now one of the 
Cottonian MSS. in the British Museum, there are several 
prefatory leaves written in imitative rustic letters (Pal. 
Soc. 1. pl. 19; Cat. Anc. MSS. ii. 12, 18), and in the 
Benedictional of Bishop Aithelwold (Pal. Soc. i. pl. 148) 
of the 10th century, and in a MS. of Aratus at Boulogne 
(Pal. Soc. i. pl. 96) written quite at the end of the 10th 
century, pages in the same style are to be found. In the 
profusely ornamented MSS. of the Gospels and other 
sacred texts of the period of the Carlovingian kings the 
bountiful use of capitals is a prominent feature of their 
decoration. 


Uncials. 


The second form of Majuscule writing employed as a 
literary hand for the texts of MSS. is that to which the 
name of Uncial has been given.’ It is a modification 
of the square capital writing. As the latter was the 


® See above, p. 117. 


ee ν 


Latin Palxography. 19! 


easiest form to carve on stone or metal, so was it more 
simple, when writing letters with the reed or pen on a 
material more or less soft, to avoid right angles by the 
use of curves. Uncial, then, is essentially a round hand, 
and its principal characteristic letters are the curved 
forms ἃ dD € ἢ M. The main vertical strokes generally 
rise above or fall below the line of writing. This style 
appears to have come into common use as a literary hand 
at least as early as the fourth century. How much 
earlier it may have been employed must remain uncertain ; 
but as in the most ancient specimens it appears in a fully 
developed shape, it is not improbable that it was used 
for books even in the third century. The period of the 
growth of the hand has been determined, from the 
occurrence of isolated uncial forms in inscriptions, etc., 
to lie between the Jatter part of the second century and 
the latter part of the fourth century.* From the fifth to 
the eighth century it was the ordinary literary hand of 
the first rank. In MSS. of the fifth and sixth centuries, 
and particularly in those of the earlier century, the uncial 
writing is exact, and is generally formed with much 
beauty and precision of stroke; in the seventh century 
it becomes more artificial; in the course of the eighth 
century it rapidly degenerates, and breaks down into a 
rough, badly-formed hand, or, when written with care, is 
forced and imitative. As a test letter of age the letter 
m has been selected, which in its earliest forms appears 
with the first limb straight, or at least not curved inwards 
at the bottom, as it is seen in Jater examples. And the 
shape of the letter € may also be of assistance for deter- 
mining the period of a MS.: in the earlier centuries, the 
cross-stroke is consistently placed high, but when the 
hand begins to give way in its later stages the stroke 
varies in position, being sometimes hirh, sometimes low, 
in the letter. In fact, as is the case with the handwriting 
of all periods and countries, the first examples of an 


* Z. W. Exempla, p. 5. Uncials were used in Latin inscriptions in 
Africa in the third century. The Makter inscription (Pal. Soe. ii, 
pl. 49), which is certainly as early as the fourth centnry, is in uncials 
with some small letters. 


192 Palxography. 


established hand are the purest and best; the letters are 
formed naturally, and therefore consistently. 

Of MSS. in uncial writing there are still a not incon- 
siderable number extant, and the earliest and most 
important have been represented by facsimiles in various 
palzographical works. The palimpsest fragments of 
Cicero Dé Republica (Z. W. Ea. 17; Pal. Soe. 1. 
pl. 160) in the Vatican Library are generally quoted as 
the most ancient example, and are assigned to the 4th 
century. The letters are massive and regular, and the 
columns of writing are very narrow. A few lines will 
give an idea of the amount of material which must have 
been required for the whole work, there being only 
fifteen such lines in each column, or thirty in a page. © 


GUIBONANCE< 
pPUIARE NECA 
PeELLARESOLEAT 
QUODEARUM 
R ERUMUIOc 


CICEKO, DE REPUBLICA.—4H CENTURY. 


(qui bona nec | putare nec ap | pellare soleat | quod earum | 
rerum vide[atur]. ) 


Probably of a nearly equal age are the fragments of 
the Vercelli Gospels (Z. W. Hx. 20), a MS. which is 
traditionally said to have been written by St. Eusebius 


Latin Paleography. 193 


himself, who died a.p. 371, and which may safely be 
placed in the fourth century. In this MS. also we have 
another example of the early practice of writing the text 
in extremely narrow columns. 

Among MSS. which are placed in the fifth century two 
of the most famous are the codices of Livy at Vienna 
and Paris (Z. W. Hr.18,19; Pal. Soc. i. pl. 31, 32, 188). 
The writing of the Viennese MS. is rather smaller than 
that of the other. It is also historically an interesting 
volume to Englishmen, as it is conjectured, from the 
occurrence of a note in it, to have belonged to the 
English monk, Suitbert, or Suiberht, one of the apostles 
to the Frisians, who became their bishop about the year 
693. We select from it a specimen as a good example of 
uncial writing of the fifth century. 


RIO PP IOOPOS SELRNITE IPS AINE PEIN in 
CIBUSSITLISG AIRC RCOONIIAE CLAUSI AX 
TULISS IMI APRACBEt C1 INIICSSALIAID 
OPPORTUNUM.MXCE DONE USdECUR 
SUM CUMETLOCOEI PRES [SIOUALION ite 


LIVY.—odTH CENTURY. 


(—ri oppido posset ante ipsam Tempe in fan { cibus situm 
Macaedoniae claustra | tutissima praebet et in Tessaliam | 
opportunum Macedonibus decur | sum cum et loco et praesidio 
valido in) 


For an example of uncial writing of the sixth century 
we are able to turn to a MS. which can be approximately 
dated—the Fulda MS. of the Gospels and other books of 
the New Testament, which was revised by Victor, Bishop 
of Capua, in the years 546 and 547, and is itself probably 
of about the same period (Z. W. Hz. 34). 

14 


194 Paleography. 


Gene rRuntadseammbosps 
Tiaanplares: Casas 
EXPONCBATICSTIRICANS 
REGHUADI> Gare ENSQ' 
erscaethbuexLe CQynosier 
prnophbetisaayneaay 


FULDA NEW TESTAMENT.—ABOUT A.D. 546. 


(Venerunt ad eum in hospi | tium plures . Quibus | exponebat 
testificans | regnum dei . Suadensque | eis de Jesu ex lege 
Mosi et | prophetis a mane usquwe) 


Even in this MS., as early as the middle of the sixth 
century, there is a certain falling off in ease and firmness 
of writing as compared with the earlier examples which 
have been quoted. But fine distinctions between the 
handwritings of different MSS. can only be satisfactorily 
studied by a comparison of the MSS. themselves, or of 
delicate photographic reproductions of them. The fac- 
similes here set before the reader, representing only 
brief passages and being simply in black and white, 
cannot serve for more than the elementary purposes of 
this book. | 

Our next facsimile illustrates writing of a century and 
a half later, and is taken from the great MS. of the 
Bible known as the Codex Amiatinus (Z. W. Hz. 35; 
Pal. Soc. ui. pl. 65, 66), in the Laurentian Library at 
Florence. It is one of three MSS. which were written 
by order of Ceolfrid, who became Abbot of Jarrow in 
Northumbria in 690; and it was taken by him on the 
journey to Italy, during which he died, in 716, for pre- 
sentation to the Pope. The date of the MS. is therefore 
about the year 700. It should, however, be remarked 
that uncial writing of this type appears to have never 
gained favour in England; and it is probable that the 
MS. was produced by Italian scribes brought over to 
this country. 


a + 


Latin Paleography. 195 


ETCONLOQUEBANTUR 
AOINUICEYN OICEN TES 

quodesst hocuerBuw | 

Quid INPOTESTATE CTUIRTUTE 
IMPERAT SPIRITIBUS | 
INQOUNOIS ETEXECUNT 


CODEX AMIATINUS.—ApouT A.D. 700. 


(Et conloquebantur | ad invicem dicentes | quod est hoo 
verbum | quia in potestate et virtute | imperat spiritibus | 
inmundis et exeunt) 


The text is arranged stichometrically, and the cha- 
racters are bold and in harmony with the large scale of 
the MS., which measures nearly twenty inches in height 
and contains more than a thousand leaves. 


CHAPTER XIV. 


LATIN PALHOGRAPHY.—CONTINUED. 


Mixed Uncial and Minuscule Writing. 


THe fact must not, however, be lost sight of that, after 
all, the majuscule forms of writing, both capital and 
uncial, which have been under discussion, represent only 
one class of the handwritings of the periods in which 
they were practised, namely, the literary hand, used in 
the production of exactly written MSS., and therefore a 
hand of comparatively limited use. By its side, and of 
course of far more extensive and general use, was the 
cursive hand of the time, which under certain conditions, 
and particularly when a book was being produced, not 
for the general market, but for private or limited cir- 
culation, would invade the literary domain of pure 
majuscule writing and show its presence by the intrusion 
of letters which are proper to the cursive alphabet. 
Thus, some of the notes of scholars in the margins of 
early majuscule MSS., or sometimes a few inserted 
Jeaves of additions, are found written in a mixed style 
of negligently formed uncials and certain cursive forms 
in limited numbers. For instance, the notes of Bishop 
Victor in the Fulda codex, quoted above (p. 193), are 
thus written; and, as an example of the employment of 
this hand for additions to a text, a few lines from a MS. 
of the Chronicles of Eusebius of the 6th century, in the 


1 In describing these mixed hands it is necessary to anticipate the 
discussion of the Roman cursive writing. 


ere 


Latin Paleography. 197 
Bodleian Library (Pal. Soc. ii pl. 130), are here 


given :— 


us g:-Ad Cons EUN AEM IUOTIENS PERSECUTIO 
guib dexignxtisrempogibFactrest— 
REC λυ τ POST PASSION EMARTONNOXXX UII 
RTAESTAWNOIM PERI ELUSXULIN QUAP ETRUS A 
aposToli clogioseaccubuefunt— 


CHRONOLOGICAL NOTES.—6rH CENTURY. 


(usque ad conswlatum eundem quotiens persecutio | —quibus 


designatis temporibus facta est | —regnavit post passionem 
domini anno xxxviiii | —[o]rta est anno imperli eius xiii in 
qua petrus et | —apostoli gloriose occubuerunt) 


Here the general character is a sloping uncial, but 
the letters b and d are cursive forms, and the cursive 
influence shows itself in the lengthening of vertical 
strokes. 

The adaptation of this mixed hand, growing as it 
were by accident into a recognized style of writing, to 
more formal literary purposes would naturally follow. 
In the MS. of Gaius at Verona (Z. W. Hw. 24) of the 
5th century, besides the ordinary uncial forms, the 
cursive-shaped d and s? are used. In the Florentine 
Pandects, written by many scribes, several cursive forms 
appear (Z. W. Er. 54; Pal. Soe iu. pl. 108) in one 
portion of the MS. And fragments of a Greco-Latin 
glossary on papyrus (Comment. Soc. Gottingen. iv. 156 ; 
Rhein. Museum, ν. 801) are also written in mixed 


? A curious instance of misunderstanding of the cursive or long 5 
(Ὁ) by an ignorant scribe is afforded by the Harley MS. 5792, which 
contains a Greco-Latin glossary, written probably in France in the 
seventh century. The archetype from which the MS. was transcribed, 
evidently had this form of the letter in several places. The scribe of 
the Harley MS., not understanding it, copied it sometimes as an i 
without a dot (1), sometimes as an i with a dot (i),—Glossae Latino- 
gruccae, etc., ed. Goetz and Gundermann, 1888, praef, xxii, 


ea 


198 Paleography. 


characters® From these examples it appears that 
secular MSS., such as those relating to law and grammar, 
were not always subject in their production to the same 
strict calligraphic rules as MSS. for church use or of a 
specially sumptuous character. The scribe, writing 
rather for the scholar than for the public reader or book- 
collector, allowed himself a certain freedom and adopted 
a style which he could write more rapidly; and yet at 
the same time the preponderating element remained 
uncial. In the following facsimile from the Pandects of 
the Laurentian Library at Florence (Pal. Soc. ἢ. 
pl. 108), probably of the end of the 6th or beginning 
of the 7th century, it will be noticed that the cursive 
forms are used at the ends of lines, generally the weak 
point, so to say, of handwritings, where innovations 
make their first appearance. 


UIEXISTIMANTI SSiquigdecnppaece/ 
ONSALIADURARE EAQUAMUISINDoMe 


AECSSECOEPERITSIUEPONONPprece/ 
ΟἹ PSOqUODINDOR WET OEDUC EEE 


PUSPONSALIAP ACTAQUAMseNTEN? 


PANDEC!8.—61H-71TH CENTURY. 


([proba]vi existimantis si quidem praeces | —[sp]onsalia durare 
ea quamvis in domo | —-[nupt]ae esse eoeperit si vero non 
praeces | —[ho]e ipso quod in domum deducta est | —[vide]ri 
sponsalia facta quam sententiam) ‘ 


* The same mixed style is founa in Latin inscriptions of Northern 
Africa; e.g. the Makter inscription (Pal. Soc. ii. pl. 49). It also 
appears in the recently discovered inscription of Diocletian’s edict, 
“de pretiis venalium ” of a.p. 301 (Pal. Soc. ii. pl. 127, 128). Even 
in Inscriptions in square capitals small letters sometimes intruded : 
see an instance of a small Ὁ in an inscription of a.p. 104, given in 


Letronne, Inscriptions de UV Hgypte, 1842, 1848, atlas, pl. 91. 


ee 


eaters teeta hs 


ἝΞ 


Latin Paleography. 199 | 


From the same MS. we give another specimen (Ζ. W. 
Ez. 54) of a hand which employs the cursive forms 
more generally, not only at the ends of lines, but pro- 
miscuously with the uncial forms, and illustrates a 
further stage of development. 


lECuMtpamiremgurabupn 
termponibduritre sail acm Se 
HUMAN AEN ATUNAECA PAT 

Luanrac ATIC CIMIUMETNO 
TI TUTLONEfermendane 


PANDECTS.—6TH-7TH CENTURY. 


(legum tramitem qui ab ur[be]— | temporibus ita esse con- 
fu{sum]— | humanae naturae capacit{ate]— | [stu]dium sacra- 
tissimis retro— | [con ]stitutiones emendare) 


But these examples represent the mixed hand in its 
simpler stages. A reference to the early MSS. in 
which it is employed by the writers of annotations 
shows that the proportion of the uncial and cursive 
forms depended a good deal on the taste or practice of 
the writer He was necessarily limited in the space 
left for his notes, and was therefore constrained to use 
a more formal kind of writing than his ordinary current 
hand would have been, somewhat in the same way as 
in annotating a printed book we, at the present day, 
often employ a half-printing kind of writing, accommo- 
dated to the narrow margins at our disposal. He 
therefore naturally used a disconnected and not a cursive 
form of writing ; and the negligent uncial, referred to 
above, seems to have been generally found most suitable 
for the purpose, qualified, as already described, by an 
admixture of cursive forms. It is the varying extent to 
which these cursive forms were admitted by different 
writers that here claims our attention. The marginal 
directions for the artist in the Quedlinbury fragment of 


200 | Paleography. δ 


an illustrated early Italic version of the Bible (Schum, 
Theolog. Studien, 1876) ; and the scholia and notes in 
such MSS. as the fragments of Juvenal in the Vatican 
(Z. W. He. 5), the Codex Bembinus of Terence (Z. W. 
Ex. 8; Pal. Soc. i. pl. 135), the Medicean Virgil (Z. W. 
Ex 10; Pal. Soc. i. pl. 86), the Bible fragment at 
Weingarten (Z. ΝΥ. Hz. 21), and others, exhibit the 
hand in various phases between the uncial and minus- 
cule (or formal cursive) styles. In the scholia on the 
Bembine Terence, we have the hand in the fully de- 
veloped condition, in which the minuscule element asserts 
itself so strongly that but few of the purely uncial 
forms remain, and to which the title of Half-uncial 
writing has been given. We find it employed as far 
back as the filth century as a literary hand in the pro- 
duction of formally written MSS. 


Half-Uncial Writing. 


This writing, as will afterwards be seen, plays a very 
important part in the history of certain national hands. 
A modified form of the uncial, as just explained, and 
recommending itself no doubt from the greater ease 
with which it could be written than the more laborious 
pure uncial, it was quickly adopted as a book-hand ; 
and the not inconsiderable numver of examples which 
are still extant prove how widely it was practised, at 
least within a certain area, chiefly comprising, it seems, 
Italy and Southern France. The earliest example 
appears to be the Fasti Consulares of the years 487-494 
in a palimpsest at Verona (Z. W. Hz. 30). Of more 
importance is the MS. of St. Hilary at Rome, written 
before 509 or 510 (Z. W. Hw. 52; Pal. Soc. 1. pl. 136). 
Other examples are the Sulpicius Severus of Verona, of 
the year 517 (Z. W. Ex. 32) ; a list of popes to 523, and 
carried on to 530, together with a collection of canons, 
in a MS. from Corbie (Z. W. Haw. 40-42; Alb. Pal.* 11) ; 
a similar MS. at Cologne (Z. W. x. 37, 38, 44); a 


* Album Paléographique, avee des notices explicatives par la 
Société de l’Hcole des Vhartes. Paris, 1887. 


Bible commentary at Monte Cassino earlier than 569 
(Z. W. Hx. 53); various MSS. at Milan, originally in the 
monastery of Bobio (Pal. Soc. i. pl. 187, 1388, 161, 162) ; 
ἃ MS. in the Libri collection (Pal. Soc. u. pl. 10) ; 
a Hilary on papyrus at Vienna (Pal. Soe. 11. pl. 31); 
and several MSS. at Lyons, Paris, and Cambrai (Alb. 
Pal. 6-9, 11, 13)—of the sixth or seventh centuries. 

As in this style of writing a large proportion of the 
forms of letters which are afterwards found in the 
minuscule hand of the Carlovingian period are already 
developed, it has also been called the Pree-Caroline 
minuscule. This title, however, being anticipatory, it is 
better to give the hand an independent name, and that 
of Half-uncial is sufficiently distinctive; unless indeed 
the still more exact title of Roman Half-uncial is pre- 
ferable. 

In the following specimen, taken from the MS. of St. 
Hilary on the Trinity in the Archives of St. Peter’s at 
Rome, which, as a note records, was revised in the 
fourteenth year of Trasamund, King of the Vandals, 
that is, in A.D. 509-10, an almost complete alphabet is 
represented ; and it will be seen that while the round 
style of uncial writing is still maintained, there are very 
few of the letters which are really uncials. 


damnactonempidererre 
Beaters pecs Cran 
nurnrabol oles 

INCcopimad NumiNnNoceNe 
ers loveadtdidoginmend 


ST. HILARY.—BEFORE A.D. 509-10. 


Latin Paleography. 201 


(damnationem fidei esse | —te aboletur per alteram— |} rursus 
abolenda est cu{ius]— | episcopi manum innocente[m]— | 
_lin]guam non ad falsiloquium coe[gisti}—) 


202 Paleography. - 


The most beautifully executed MS. of early date in this 
style of hand is the Biblical commentary of Monte 
Cassino, written before the year 569 (Z. W. Hz. 53). 
A specimen is here selected from it as a standard example 
of the perfect half-uncial which formed the model for 
certain forms of the national hands which will be 
described afterwards. 


Gholenec: Nacuferzoe 
uUTQqQUuacpmMmManmRreEcer 
CREaAnc Tquidpererno 
Morncudau clermpemn 


BIBLICAL COMMENTARY.—BEFORE A.D. 569. 


(aboleret . natus ergo e— | ut quae primum fecer[at|— | crearet 
quia per erro[rem!— | mortua ut semper in—) 


We must here break off our examination of the formal 
book-hands to take up that of the Roman Cursive 
writing which, as we have just seen, essentially affected 
the half-uncial, and which had an all-important influence 
iz forming the later handwritings of Western Hurope. 


CHAPTER XV. 


LATIN PALZOGRAPHY.—CONTINUED. 


Roman Cursive Writing. 


Some of the earliest material which has survived for the 
study of Roman Cursive writing is found among the wali- 
inscriptions of Pompeii. ‘These inscriptions have been 
divided into two classes: (1) those traced with the brush, 
generally in formal and not cursive capitals, and consist- 
ing of advertisements, recommendations of candidates, 
announcements of public games, of lost articles, of houses 
to let, etc.; and (2) scrawls and scribblings, sometimes 
in charcoal, chalk, etc., but more generally scratched 
with a point (the so-called graffiti), and written in cursive 
letters, being quotations from poets, idle words, reckon- 
ings, salutations, love addresses, pasquinades, satirical 
remarks, etc. A few are of ancient date, but most of 
them range between a.p. 63 and the year of the destruc- 
tion of the city, Α.Ὁ. 79. Similar inscriptions have been 
found at Herculaneum, and in the excavations and cata- 
combs of Rome. Most of them have been collected by 
Zangemeister in the Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum 
of the Berlin Academy, vol. iv., which also contains a 
carefully compiled table of the forms of letters employed. 
Some of those found in Rome are represented in the 
fioma subterranea Christiana of De Rossi. 

Contemporary with these wall-inscriptions are the 


204 Paleography. 


waxen tablets found in 1875 at Pompeii, in the house 


of L. Cecilius Jucundus,! inscribed with documents in 
cursive writing, and ranging in date chiefly from a.p. 53 
to 62. Of similar character are the waxen tablets, some 
of which are dated between a.p. 131 and 167, found in 
the ancient mining works of Verespatak in Dacia,’ and 
published with a table of forms of letters in the Corpus 
Inseriptionum Latinarum, vol. iii. With these also must 
be grouped the tiles which have been found on various 
sites, scratched, before being baked, with alphabets, 
verses, or miscellaneous memoranda.® 

The examples of Roman cursive writing which have 
been enumerated above represent the ordinary writing 
of the people for about the first three centuries of the 


Christian era. The letters are nothing more than the > 


old Roman letters written with speed, and thus under- 
going certain modifications in their forms, which eventu- 
ally developed into the minuscule hand. ‘These same 
original Roman letters written carefully became, as we 
have seen, the formal capital alphabets in use in inscrip- 
tions under the Empire and in the sumptuous MSS. of 
the early centuries of our era. It is probable that the 
wall-scribblings of Pompeii essentially represent the 
style of writing which had been followed for some two 
or three centuries before their actual date; for, in the 
other direction, the difference between the style of the 
Dacian tablets and that of the Pompeian period, although 
they are separated by a long interval, is not so marked 
as might have been expected. 

If we turn to the Table of letters which are found in 
the graffiti of Pompeii and other Roman sites, we see 
how in the first century the original capital forms stand 
side by side with other modified forms which even at 


‘ See above, p. 25. * See above, p. 24. 

2 See ahove, p. 15. Some of them are inscribed with memoranda 
of the brickfields. One found at Aquileia bears the warning of a 
severe taskmaster to some unfortunate workman: “ Cave malum, si 
non raseris lateres pc; si raseris minus, malum formidabis.” Corp. 
Ins. Lat. v., no. 8110 (176), 


Latin Paleography. 205 


that date had begun to tend towards minuscules. In A 
the cross stroke falls, so to say, out of its horizontal 
position and hangs as a short middle stroke or entirely 
disappears. ‘The slurring of the bows of B, in quick 
writing, produces the form of the letter resembling a 
stilted a, the waved stroke representing the bows and 
the loop the original upright mainstroke. This is the 
most complete transformation of any letter in the alpha- 
bet. C and G exaggerate the length of the upper part 
of the curve. The letter D developes gradually the 
uncial form, which afterwards produced the minuscule, 
by lengthening the upper stroke of the bow, while the 
straight main-stroke, like that of the B, turns into a 
curve. The letter E is represented in two forms, the 
second being the double vertical-stroke letter used also 
in inscriptions and in the Faliscan alphabet. F in like 
manner takes the form of a long and a short stroke, both 
more or less vertical, the short stroke gradually degenera- 
ting into a curve. In the changes of H we see the 
origin of the minuscule in the shortening of the second 
main-stroke. Besides the normal capital form we have 
M represented by four vertical strokes, ἢ], the first being 
longer than the rest; and so, too, N appears in the form 
of three strokes, |i. The hastily written O is no longer 
a circle, but is formed by two curves; and, the natural 
tendency when writing with a hard point being to form 
concaye rather than convex curves, the second curve of 
the letter also becomes concave. In the letter P we see 
the gradual wearing down of the bow into a mere oblique 
stroke; in R the slurring of the bows into a curved 
stroke; and in § the straightening of the lower curve 
and the development of the upper one into an oblique 
stroke. 

In the alphabets of the Dacian tablets many of these 
modifications are seen to be carried still farther, as for 
example in the straightening of the exaggerated head- 
curve of C and G into the flat head which in the latter 
letter afterwards becomes so marked a feature. The 
similarity now existing between certain letters is also 
very striking, and it is obvious how easily one may be 


206 Paleography. 


misread for another. A and R, B and D, C and O, 
C and P,C and T, E and U, bear, under various con- 
ditions, more or less resemblance to each other; and, 
to add to the difficulties of decipherment, linking and 
combination of letters was carried in the cursive hand of 
this period almost to an extreme. 

The two following facsimiles are taken from the 
Pompeian graffiti. First we select the beginnings of 
four lines, two from Ovid (Amor. I. viii. 77) and two 
from Propertius (LV. v. 47), written in a style which we 
may call formal cursive, the normal shapes of the old 
letters being fairly maintained (Corp. Insc. Lat, iv. 1898, 
1894, tab. xxv. 7). 


νΑὺλ (τον πα τιτνὰ 
VENT e mE Lufiud la 
ΤΣ ν᾿ ee 

J roy sb ddn Tia \ ! 
‘ fe uf jrotdu¢ THM f9 


WALL-INSCRIPTION.— 1ST CENTURY. 


(Surda sit oranti tua [ianua laxa ferenti] | audiat exclusi verba 
[receptus amans] | ianitor ad dantis vigilet [si pulsat inanis] | 
surdus in obductam so[mniet usque seram]) 


Next is given a specimen of the more cursive style in 
which the normal shapes of the letters are considerably 
modified and the vertical-stroke forms of H and M are 
used. The shape of the O may also be noticed, being 
formed by two convex strokes as explained above. 
(Corp. Insc. Lat. iv. 1597, tab. vii. 1). 


ΕΣ 
» ia 
» 


Latin Palxography. 207 


QW δ Flaps \\ ee ae 


Cage mA 2 =) τ τ 
ες oer WR Cant 


WALL-INSCRIPTION.—1sT CENTURY. 


(communem nummum— | censio est nam noster— | magna 
habet pecuni[am]}) 


We now turn from the large hasty scrawls of the 
plaster-covered walls of Pompeii and take up the delicate 
specimens traced with the fine-pointed stilus on smooth 
waxen surfaces. 

In the waxen tablets found at Pompeii we have two 
styles of writing: that of the deeds themselves, inscribed 
on the waxen pages with the stilus in the decided] 
cursive character which may be compared with the fac- 
2 simile of the wall-inscription just given; and that of the 
: endorsements and lists of witnesses written in ink upon 
the bare wood of the pages which were not coated with 
wax,’ in a more formal character which may be compared 
with the preceding facsimile. The following specimen 
is a fragment of one of the tablets which record payments 
made on account of sales by auction (Atti det Lincei, 
1875-6, p. 21S, tav. 1), written in the full cursive style. 


See above, p, 25. 


208 


) _ δ Lek 
“efter saya freer ὼ SSG Aw Mie oc 


ὧν AYE wv. FUN 


amen Se Be Muthicn WN δά ὦ 
wf rR ast G ae 
WORK Glsty 


POMPEIAN WAXEN TABLET.—I1stT CENTURY. 


(—{S]aturni[no}— | —[ScipiJone— | iv idus Novembr | —s 
Umbricae Antiochidis se[rvus] |—[ea]m accepisse ab L. 
Caec(ilio] | [Iucundo] sestertios nummos sescentos | [quadra- 
gijuta quinque [ob au]ctionem | ........ .| rebus 
innisiticis v[enditis]— | ex qua summa—) 


The handwriting is very firm and distinct, and the 
| letters are formed upon the same pattern as those of the 
| last facsimile. Nor is the hand complicated by the 
linkings and monogrammatic arrangements of two or 
more letters, which will be presently shown in another 
example. Indeed, the letters are inscribed so distinctly 
that there is no difficulty in deciphering the text when 
once the forms are mastered. 

Two facsimiles from the Dacian tablets of the second 
century are now given. ‘The first is taken from one of 
the pages of a tablet recording the dissolution of a burial 
club at Alburnus Major, or Verespatak, in the year 167. 
It is written clearly, and the letters generally stand 
distinct without much linking (Massmann, Lib. aur. 
tab. 2; Corp. Insc. Lat. τι. 926-7). 


Latin Paleography. 209 


Xr ( WN PINN WT OW ( Ot Jt Tee 
FN WN OQ): CIN UG AN V nw ve 
I Tu fu ONT] NPN { 1 Prey O ; 
τινας, Guy yrane $Y 
an rd DAT SWI 


ps Salons) mg) SOG 


qn JIUsGapesy cE Chee 
me Sura HYG NUN off nurse 


SCL ain han 

ἰ' (dies Pend, PH 2 Gan ventan, 
ral vr με ak 48 
Myf Net 4 Pm %. IS 

eon BS ~ ἐς x np 


DACIAN WAXEN TABLET.—A.D. 167. 


(Descriptum et recognitum | factum ex libello qui propo | situs 
erat Albwrno maiori ad statio| nem Resculi in quo scrip | 
tum erat id quot infra seriptum est | Artemidorus Apolloni 
magister | collegi Iovis Cerneni et Valerius | Niconis et Offas 
Menofili questo | res collegi eiusdem | posito hoc libello publice 
testantur | ex collegis supra scriptis ubi erant homines liiii | 
ex eis non plus remasisse Alburni quam quot homines xvii :) 


The facsimile represents the beginning of the deed 
written, in duplicate, in the left- hand compartment of 
the fourth page of the tablet, as described above (p. 26) ; 
the right-hand compartment being reserved for the names 
of the witnesses. 

The second example is taken from the very perfect 
remains of a triptych, to which the witnesses’ seals still 
remain attached. The contents refer to the purchase of 
a girl in the year 139 (Corp. Insc. Lat. iii. 936-7). 

15 


210 Paleography. 


PLEURA YN Kate dp ure 
ny ys ( ne sy JUSS \ (wv bys 
ΝᾺ ΤΩΝ \JYYMYMM IGN STAs 
rawr ιν ὁ Ὧν JI fr Gon 
) ALK a ew ry A τς Ἐ Nyx 
fr ἐν Sa ον Wsyayy 


DACIAN WAXEN TABLET.—A.D. 189. 


(et alterum tantum dari fide rogavit | Maximus Batonis fide 
promisit Dasius | Verzonis Pirusta ex Kaviereti | Proque ea 
puella quae supra scripta est x ducen | tos quinque accepisse et 
habere | se dixit Dasius Verzonis a Maximo Batonis) 


The writing here is more complicated than that of 
the other example, and it will at once be seen that the 
difficulty is not caused by any deficiency in the character 
of the hand, which is on the contrary particularly bold 
and well formed, but by the number of linked letters, or 
rather monograms, which occur. This system of linking 
dismembers the letters and leaves the initial stroke of a 
letter attached to its predecessor, while the rest stands 
quite separate, thus intensifying the natural disposition 
to write in disjointed strokes upon such a material as 
wax, and increasing the difficulty of reading. With such 
a condensed form of writing before us, we are tempted 
to speculate what would have been the cast of the hand- 
writing, derived from the Roman, of the middle ages and 
modern times, had waxev surfaces been the only, or 
principal, material to receive it. We should certainly 
have had no loops to our cursive letters and curves would 
have disappeared. 

To complete the illustration of the early Roman cur- 
sive hand we give a few lines inscribed on a tile found at 
Silchester, probably of the Ist or 2nd century. They 
seem to be the material for a writing lesson, the teacher 
apparently first writing certain words as examples of the 


Latin Paleography. 211 


formation of certain letters, and then dashing off the 
*conticuere omnes” of Virgil. 


Ν Mode : olidas 


Sort ν Ἴνα ως Ἂν 
ΩΝ ‘a Wa a S\N w 


INSCRIBED ROMAN TILE.—I|sT OR 2ND CENTURY. 


(Pertacus Perfidus | Campester Lucilianus | Campanus conti- 
cuere omnes) 


The alphabet employed is identical with that of the 
waxen tablets. It will be noticed that the initial C is 
marked with an extra dash at the top in continuation of 
the curve of the letter, and that the linked form of the 
letters ER cccurs several times. 


Examples of the Roman cursive hand now fail us for 
a period of some centuries. We have to wait till the 
fifth century to find its representative in Italian deeds of 
that period. But we must step aside to examine some 
interesting fragments of papyrus, in Paris and Leyden, 
inscribed in a character which is quite otherwise unknown : 
a modification of the Roman cursive, cast in a mould 
which stamps it with a strong individuality. The docu- 
ments contained in them are portions of two rescripts 
addressed to Egyptian officials; and they are said to have 
been found at Philz and Elephantine. ‘The writing is 
the official cursive of the Roman chancery, and is ascribed 
to the 5th century. Both documents are in the same 
hand. Fora long time they remained undeciphered, and 
Champollion-Figeac, while publishing a facsimile (Chartes 
et MSS. sur papyrus, 1840, pl. 14), was obliged to admit 


212 Paleography. 


his inability to read them. Massmann, however, after 
his experience of the writing of the waxen tablets, 
succeeded in reading the Leyden fragment (Libellus 
aurarius, p. 147), and the whole of the fragments were 
subsequently published by De Wailly (Mém. de l Institut, 
xv. 399). Mommsen and Jaffe (Jahrbuch des gem. deut. — 
Rechts, vi. 398; see also Pal. Soc. ii. pl. 80) have dis- 
cussed the text and given a table of the letters com- 
pared with those of the Dacian tablets. The following 
facsimile (Lib. aur.) gives portions of afew lines on a 
reduced scale. 


ϑηργοίερορν. 
(Per ΧΩ ΖΩ 
ηλελιννλήν 


IMPERIAL RESCRIPT.—DTH CENTURY. 


(portionem ipsi debitam resarcire | nec ullum precatorem ex in- 
strumento— | pro memorata narratione per vim con[fecto]— | 
sed hoc viribus vacuato) 


The writing is large, the body of the letters being 
above three-quarters of an inch high. A comparison of 
the letters, as set out in the Table, with those of the 
alphabet of the waxen tablets leaves no room to ques- 
tion their connection, but at the same time shows the 
changes effected by the flourished style of the later 


Latin Paleography. 213 


hand and also by its more cursive formation with pen 
and ink upon papyrus, the natural slope of the writing 
inclining, under the altered conditions, to the right, 
instead of inclining rather to the left, or at least being 
upright, as in the waxen tablets. It is interesting to note 
the change in the shape of B, to suit the system of con- 
necting letters practised in the more cursive style, from 
the stilted a-form of the tablets with closed bow, to an 
open-bowed letter somewhat resembling a reversed 
modern cursive b. The tall letters have developed 
loops; O and y-shaped U are small and written high in 
the line. The shapes of Εἰ, M, and N are peculiar; but 
the first is evidently only a quick formation, in a loop, 
of the old double-stroke Εἰ (Il), and the other two, 
although they have been compared with the Greek 
minuscule mu and nu, as if derived from those letters, 
appear to be nothing more than cursive shapes of the 
Latin capitals M and N. 

This official hand, however, as already stated, is quite 
exceptional, and we turn to the documents on papyrus 
from Ravenna, Naples, and other places in Italy, dating 
from the fifth century, for examples of the less trammelled 
development of the Roman cursive into a bold straggling 
hand, which, however, is not wanting in effectiveness. 
The largest number are brought together by Marini 
(I Papiri Diplomatici), and other examples will be found 
in the works of Mabillon (De Re Diplomatica), Cham- 
pollion-Figeac (Chartes et MSS. sur papyrus), Mass- 
mann (Urkunden in Neapal und Arezzo), Gloria (Paleo- 
grafia); in the Facsimiles of Ancient Charters in the 
British Museum, iv. nos. 45,46; and in Pal. Soc. i. pl. 
2, 28, un. pl. 51-53. The following facsimile is taken 
from a deed of sale of property in Rimini, now in the 
British Museum, drawn up at Ravenna in the year 572 
(Pal. Soc. 1. pl. 2). The papyrus roll on which it is 
inscribed is of great length, measuring as much as 
8 ft. 6 in., and is a foot wide. The writing, not only of 
the deed itself, but also of the attestations, is on a large 


scale, which has been reduced to nearly half-size in the 
facsimile. 


| 


| 


214 Palxograpny. 


aL rari Sn reas 
10g jo ueanwmroyt 

OY ΠΣ 
wn Pan We 


DEED OF SALE.—A.D. 572. 


(quantum supra scripte emptori interfuerit— | mancipationique 
rei supra scriptae dol[um]— | que esse vi metu et circumscrip 
[tione ]|— | unciis superius designatis sibi supra scriptus) 


As compared with the alphabet of the waxen tablets the 
letters have here undergone a great alteration, which must 
be chiefly attributed to the variations arising out of the 
system of connecting the letters together currente calamo. 
Most of the letters, indeed, have now assumed the shapes 
from which the minuscules of the literary hand of the 
Carlovingian period were directly derived. The letter a 
has no longer any trace of the capital in its composition ; 
it is now the open u-shaped minuscule, derived no doubt 
through an open uncial form (δ ἃ) from the parent 
capital ; it is sometimes written in ἃ small form high in 
the line; and itis to be noticed that it is always con- 
nected with the next following letter, and on this account 
may be distincuished from the letter u, which is never thus 
connected. This link of the a no doubt has its origin in 


Latin Paleography. 215 


the sweepmg main-stroke of the early cursive letter as seen 
in the waxen tablets. The letter b has thrown away the 
bow on the left, as seen in the chancery hand of the fifth 
century, and has developed one on the right, and appears 
in the form familiar in modern writing. The letter e, 
derived from the ordinary capital, not from the two- 
stroke cursive letter, varies in form in accordance with 
the conditions of its connection with other letters, and 
affords a good illustration of the influence of linking- 
strokes in determining alterations of shape. Among the 
other letters the fully formed minuscule m and n are 
seen; long r is easily derived from the cursively-written 
letter of the waxen tablets; and s, having developed the 
initial down-stroke or tag, has taken the shape Y, which 
it keeps long after. 

The general application of.the Roman cursive hand to 
the purposes of literature would hardly be expected ; but 
a few surviving instances of its employment for annota- 
‘tions and even for entire texts are found in the notes 
written probably in the fifth century by the Arian bishop 
Maximin in the margins of a MS. at Paris containing 
the Acts of the Council of Aquileia; in a short Greeco- 
Latin vocabulary on papyrus (the Greek words being 
written in Roman letters), perhaps of the 5th or 6th 
century (Not. et Hxtr. des MSS. xviii. pl. 18); in the 
grammatical treatise of the 6th century in the palim- 
psest MS. of Licinianus in the British Museum (Caé. Ane. 
MSS. ii. pl. 1, 2) ; and in the texts of the Homilies of 
St. Avitus at Paris, perhaps of the 6th century (Pal. 
Soc. i. pl. 68), the Ambrosian Josephus on papyrus, 
ascribed to the 7th century (Pal. Soc. 1. pl. 59), and 
the Homilies of St. Maximus of Turin, also in the 
Ambrosian Library of Milan, of about the same period 
(Pal. Soc. ii. pl. 32) ; and in other MSS. From the 
survival of comparatively so many literary remains in 
this style of writing, it may be inferred that it was used 
as a quick and convenient means of writing texts in- 
tended probably for ordinary use and not for the 
market. As an example, we give a few lines from 


the MS. of St. Maximus. 


216 Paleography. 


Mm pPRGLYN ~ReyupPiuntioum 
m138~hrcEJoor0 Lam&-lyma 
> Inculurdalaburremreucg Ez 
dimur quay Ingo dumpealo 


n&n ee Tanuy>feG He coven 


HOMILIES OF ST. MAXIMUS.—7TH CENTURY. 


([pa]trem specialiter exsuperantium— | [mi]nister in sacerdotio 
comes in ma(rtyrio] — | [labo]re in euius vultibus sanctum 
quoque — | [cre ]dimus et quasi in quodam speculo — | [imagi] 
nem contuemur facile enim cogn{oscimus ]) 


For our present purpose we need not follow in this 
place the further course of Roman cursive writing. It 
was still used in the legal documents of Italy for some 
centuries, ever becoming more and more corrupt and 
complicated and illegible. Facsimiles of documents of 
the eighth and ninth centuries are given by Fumagalli 
(Delle Istituziont diplomatiche), by Sickel (Monumenta 
Graphica), in the Codex Diplomaticus Cavensts, vol. 1., 
in the Paleografia artistica di Montecassino, tav. xxxiv., 
xxxv., and by Silvestre (Palzxography, i. pl. 1387). The 
illegible scrawl into which it finally degenerated in 
notarial instruments of southern Italy was at length 
suppressed by order of Frederic II. in the year 1220." 


5 In the thirteenth century the Roman cursive was unintelligible. 
Simon of Genoa, Clavis Sanctionis (1514, f. 37), says: “ Ego vidi 
Romz in gazophilaciis antiquorum monasteriorum Rome libros et 
privilegia ex hac materia (sc. charta) seripta ex litteris apud nos non 
intelligibilibus, nam figure nec ex toto Greece nec ex toto Latinz 
erant.” And again, when speaking of papyrus (f. 47), he uses these 
words: “Ego vidi Rome in aliquibus monasteriis antiquissima 
volumina ex eisdem litteris semi-grecis scripta ac nullis modernis 


legibilia.”’ See De Rossi, Codd. Palatini Latinc, 1886, Introd. p. ci. 


os 


“Ὁ ἃ δι, ὁ, 


--- 


--αὖ 


Ὁ τ eel ete 
alA AAAI NRA ΧῈΣ APY ier ee 

» δ 8 fe AAA A A ORDA Pht 4, 
lie MN τ ὦ MOINS Eb bela ἘΠῚ 
δὰ JovddAdaA δὰ δὰ τς 
Pee C πε Pe ane νος {7 LPELLS (ooo) 
Nt oly ἢ Ar re PP PP fp 
eG ἢ τῷ “ὦ τὰ C165 τ WF Bi > 
a eee ΠΠ ise diel 
τ ape! Sohal ta nid 
kik k eee 

Tae Wael eaten Ee bee a) 
m | AX Jit Mn AK TU jin Ti jus ἙΝ |For 5 γῇ νὴ 
ΝΗ ΜΒ NNN Ἀπ WWwANn| PH |nn 

BG OG) ὁ τ τὸς οῦξευ |42ὅό ἃ ὥ ὁ. 
plepTceniechec jeenrts|¢ee2"| po pe? 
τ ἘΠ YT er 5 
F|RREAR = MNP PME IS eo eg 
17 iene | 077 7 7 νυυνγ 
Mt ete Wie Cw re Gite 7111} CODE LE (or) Rie) 
ποι τινι [Wha νι Ol ye ἢ 
lees ~\ SON ae 0 
CG ee 

ieee, ἡ 7 aes 


δ face page 2/6. 


LATIN 


CURSIVE ALPHABETS. 


ES. Weller. 


ἔμ. “ 


gl 


> ΄ a: 
prratiasl ~~! 


δ ξζ Ϊ 


gs ὕ δεὺ “SCG 


—. 


7 
Ἢ 
si 


._. =——~ ΡΨ ιν 
ΦῊ pond 


CHAPTER XVI 
LATIN PALHOGRAPHY —CONTINUED. 


Minuscule Writing.—National Hands. 


We have now to investigate the very interesting sub- 
ject of the formation of the national handwritings of 
Western Europe, derived from Roman writing. On the 
Continent the cursive hand which has just been noticed 
became the basis of the writing of Italy, Spain, and 
Frankland, and from it were moulded the three national 
hands which we know as Lombardic, Visigothic, and 
Merovingian. The common origin of all three is suffi- 
ciently evident on an inspection of the earliest charters 
of those countries. | 

In the book-hands elaborated by professional scribes 
from the cursive, with a certain admixture of uncial and 
half-uncial forms, we see the lines of demarcation between 
the three kinds of writing at length quite clearly defined. 
But it was only to be expected that particularly in the 
earlier stages there should be examples which it would 
be difficult to assign definitely to either one or other of 
these national divisions; and, as a matter of fact, the 
difference between a MS. written in France and another 
written in Italy is not always so strongly marked as to 
enable us to call the one decidedly Merovingian or the 
other decidedly Lombardic in its style. 


218 Palxography. 


We will examine the three hands in the order in which 
they have been above referred to, reserving the Mero- 
vingian for the last, as that form of writing leads on to 
ne Caroline Minuscule, which eventually displaced all 
three. 


Lombardic Writing. 


That the national handwriting of Italy, founded on 
the old Roman cursive, should not have developed on 
the same lines throughout the country is attributable to 
political causes. The defeat of the Lombards in northern 
Italy by Charlemagne subjected it there to new in- 
fluences, and checked its development in the direction 
which it continued to follow in the Lombard duchies of 
the south, and particularly in the monasteries of Monte 
Cassino near Naples and La Cava near Salerno. There- 
fore, although the title of Lombardic is given as a 
general term to the writing of Italy in the early middle 
ages, that title might be more properly restricted to its 
particular development in the south, covering the period 
from the ninth to the thirteenth century, and reaching its 
climax in the eleventh century. 

In an example of the book-hand of Northern Italy in 
the seventh century, the Verona Augustine (Sickel, 
Mon. Graph. ii. 1), we find the half-uncial element very 
strong, and what would be termed the Lombardic 
element, the peculiar adaptation of certain cursive forms, 
rather subordinate. Again, in the Sacramentarium 
(MS. 348) of St. Gall (Pal. Soc. i. pl. 185), which 
belonged to Remedius, Bishop of Chur (4.p. 800-820), 
and which may therefore be placed at least as early 
as the beginning of the 9th century, if not at the end 
of the 8th century, the writing, though classed as Lom- 
bardic, is rather of the type which we should prefer to 
call modified Lombardic. In the facsimile here given, 
while the descent of the writing from the Roman cursive 
can pretty readily be traced, the national character of 
the hand is not very marked, and it is only the letters a 


----.- E 
Latin Paleography. 219 


(in the double-c form) and t which are absolutely Lom- 
bardic in shape. 


Lccarve- apy mf queenby of fernmur py 
ge clefia αιιο (4a; coeccholica. qucem pacifi 


Cope. a ae ceel uncre. ἐαγεςζτ γε ἐν. 
ΠΕ. mao orbe atyrrccruny “anacum 
SACRAMENTARIUM.—8TH OR 9TH CENTURY. 

({inlijbata: Inprimis que tibi offerimus pro | ecclesia tua 
sancta . catholica . quam pacifi | care . custodire . adunare . et 
regere dig | neris . toto orbe terrarum: Una eum) 

To illustrate the Lombardic hand in one of its earliest 
stages, written cursively, we take a few lines from a 
deed of Grimoaldus 1V., Duke of Benevento, of the year 


810 (Paleografia artistica di Montecassino—Longobardo- 
Cassinese, tav. XXXIV.). 


© frase ht 
| ἬΝ ἜΝ 
ἜΠΗ; cc a. 


DEED FROM BENEVENTO.—-A.D, 810. 


220 Paleography. 

(—invitis seu sponte ante euiwscumque perso[na] | —abbatissam 
seu prepositos vel qui hab eis sunt ordi[nati] | —semper iam 
phatus cenobius abbatzssa vel | —omnesquwe sibi subiectis absque 
om) 


Here we have awriting which is esseutially the Roman 
cursive, but subjected to certain exaggerations and 
peculiarities of formation which, being further developed, 
afterwards mark the Lombardic hand. The open a, the 
looped t, and the e with an indented or broken back are 
letters to be noticed. The manner of writing the letter 
a above the line in a zig-zag stroke commencing with a 
curve (hab in |. 2, and phatus in 1. 3) is only an exag- 
geration of the practice which was referred to above in 
the remarks upon the Ravenna documents. 

The next facsimile is from a MS. of Albinus Flaccus 
“De Trinitate,” of the year 812, in the monastery of 
Monte Cassino (Pal, art. di M. C. tav. xxxvii). 


e& Ain guccd ogy nae afr hopdiurde 
whgynac CAinaim uigyng fincenfras 
Sry pjofum. cedip eer ecdicbocan VRun 


Manne fup Brea (αὐτὰ tpfiim ar ecd 
Bich cl&Sfofeennof Ῥ cecBRefdifenfyin gy 


ALBINUS FLACCUS.—A.D. 812. 


(centum quaraginta tres hos divide— | triginta centum viginti 
remanent.— | egyptiorum . ad ipsas adice octo et fiun[t] | — 
triginta superat unus ipsum est ad—- | Sic et ceteros annos per 


aeras discurrentes—-) 


In this example the hand is formally written as a 
book-hand, with the characteristic shapes of the letters 
a, 6, and t now quite developed. And even at this early 


Latin Paleography. 204 


period there is discernible the tendency to give a finish 
to short vertical strokes, as in m,n, and u, by adding 
heavy oblique heads and feet. This style of ornamental 
finish was carried to its height in the course of the 
eleventh century, and had the result of imparting to 
Lombardic writing of that period, by the strong contrast 
of the fine and heavy strokes, the peculiar appearance 
which has gained for it the name of broken Lombardic. 
The facsimile which follows is a good specimen of this 
type. Itis from a Lectionary written at Monte Cassino 
between the years 1058 and 1087 (Pal. art. di M. C. 
tav. xlv.). 


nof & Leuur aof 
co pica nbf ἰω 
feenguint πο fe 
ur ntin flanum 
{occtpOoatf % 2 


LECTIONABY.—A.D. 1058-1087. 


(nos et lavit nos | a peccatis nostris in | sanguine suo.’ et fe | 
cit nostrum regnum | sacerdotes deo et) 


After this period the Lombardic hand declines in 
beauty and becomes more angular. A specimen of the 
later style is found in a commentary on monastic rules 
by Bernard, abbot of Monte Cassino from 1264 to 1282 
(Pal. art. di M. C. tay. liii ). 


222 Palexozraphy. 


fam. 6, cbruad gd Krebico debe: 
ficer [όχι WS ποῦ οἷς ζέγατε ἀταθετ 
do K (andl Tuxad pfectlete. B nfl; 
gore PROS. ὦ δ. fron nh ging 
δ: βοιδιοίο. ebtnz tu? habe bilo 


MONASTIC RULES.—A.D. 1264-1282. 


(sum .id est tributum απο ex debito debent , sicut servi 
domino videlicet septem vicibus in | die et semel in nocte 
psallere . non negli | gant reddere . id es¢ reddant diligenter | 
et studiose . debent enim habere a biblio[theca]) 


Visigothic Writing. 


Visigothic is the title given to the national writing of 
Spain derived from the Roman cursive. It runs a course 
very close to that of the Lombardic, developing a book- 
hand of distinctive character, which is well established 
in the eighth and ninth centuries and lasts down to the 
twelfth century. Its final disuse was due, as in the case 
of the other continental national hands, to the advance 
of the Caroline minuscule hand, which, however, as was 
to be expected, could only dispiace the native hand by 
degrees, making its presence felt at first in the north of 
the Peninsula. In the collection of photographic fac- 
similes Hxempla Scripturae Visigoticae, edited by P. 


* « Dans un des volumes acquis par nous se trouve le catalogue des 
livres que le monastére de Silos possédait au commencement du xiile 
siecle. ... Le redacteur du catalogue a pris soin d’avertir que 
plusieurs des livres de son abbaye étaient écrits en lettres frangaises 
i ae C’est une allusion ἃ la révolution qui s’introduit au xiie 
siécle, et peut-étre dés le xi¢, dans les habitudes des copistes espagnols, 
probablement sous l’influence des colonies frangaises que notre grande 
abbaye de Cluni envoya dans plusieurs diocéses d’Espagne.”— Delisle, 
Mélanges de Paléographie, p. 59. 


Latin Paleography. 223 


Ewald and G. Loewe (Heidelberg, 1883), the course of 
the Visigothic writing can be fairly followed. In the 
cursive hand of the seventh century we find little varia- 
tion from the Roman cursive; but almost immediately we 
are in the presence of a half-cursive book-hand (Ez. 4) 
which is attributed to the 7th or 8th century, and 
which has already assumed a distinctive character, as 
will be seen from the following facsimile. It comes 
from a treatise of St. Augustine ina MS, in the Escurial. 


S| {Qa ah apa? Mf {o-norcrumd (ie eter. 


wrsd sent Bre aerfoyt ood 
Alam = aint ihe fT 


Lane We VA gu oda A i 
mer A bof tach Ζι σὰ 
eel τῶν fam wlatednet Au Koa 


ST. AUGUSTINE.—7TH OR 8TH CENTURY, 


({qujod scit medicus esse noxium sanitati | —medicus ergo ut 
egrum exaudiat | —voluntatem . denique etiam ipsa | —aceipit 
propter quod ter dominwm rogabit | —mea nam virtus in in- 
firmitate perficitur |] —tur a te ‘stimulus carnis quem accepisti) 


In this specimen the old forms of the Roman cursive 
letters are treated in a peculiar method, the inclination 
of the writing to the left imparting a compressed and 
angular character. The high-shouldered letter r and 
the ordinary t are already in the forms which at a later 
period are prominent in Visigothic MSS., and the letter 
gis beginning to take the q-form which makes it the 
most characteristic letter of the Visigothic alphabet. 
It is interesting to notice tbe shapes of a and u (the 
linking of the first letter which distinguishes it, as in 


224 Palxography. 


its Roman prototype, from the independently written u, 
still being observed), the forms of p, and the different 
changes of t when in combination with other letters— 
all referable to their Roman ancestors. 

In many of the specimens of the eighth and ninth 
centuries we find a small evenly-written hand, in which 
the light and heavy strokes are in strong contrast, the 
inclination of the letters being still rather to the left. 
But we choose our next facsimile from a MS. which is 
of a rather more formal type, and is a more direct link 
in the development of the later style. It is from a MS. 
of the Etymologies of St. Isidore, in the Hscurial, of 
the first half of the 9th century (Hz. 14). 


{UAT nou» Tercumaree 
aum nour Mdeomuncupacur 
ΕΝ Με τὸν Nonénimall 
Stteund ee OM LNA MNOUM 
GF udcur crue σονυσιζοτα, ἐς ραὶ 


ST. ISIDORE.—9TH CENTURY, 


(sunt nova. Testamentum | aufem novum . ideo nuncupatur . | 
quia innovat., non enim illum | discunt . nisi homines reno- 
vati | ex vetustate per gratiam et perti—) 


The letters of the Visigothic hand are here fully 
developed; and at the same time the thickening or 
clubbing of thestall vertical strokes seems to indicate 
the influence of the French school. Attention may be 
drawn to the occurrence in the last line of the abbre- 
viated form of per peculiar to the Visigothic hand, 
which in other countries would represent pro. 


Latin Palexography. 225 


We advance some hundred years, and select our next 
facsimile from a Martyrology in the British Museum 
(Pal. Soc. i. pl. 95), which was written in the diocese 
of Burgos in the year 919. 


luctrceum caupree-plecen- qutig 
décollaucas ert6¢ ἔοι prow 
{1(1{ ‘ecjorctuurregt philippe 


ibe ἫΝ cum filto tito furoum. 
nocae corporw (είν. ex|ndomo 


MARTYROLOGY.—aA.D. $19. 


(iussit eum capite plecti: quumquwe | decollatus esset beatus 
Prota | sius.’ ego servus Christi Philippus | abstuli cum filio 
meo furtim | nocte corpora sancta .’ et in domo) 


It will be seen that this specimen differs from the 
last one in being rather squarer in form of letters and in 
having the vertical strokes finer. There is, in fact, a 
decided loss as regards actual beauty of writing. The 
MS. is one which may be classed as a specimen of calli- 
graphy, and therefore rather in advance of others of 
the same period which still retain much of the older 
character, and is dominated by the increasing influence 
of the French hand. In passing, the use of the con- 
junction guum in our specimen may be noticed, a practice 
of Visigothic scribes, while those of other nations employ 
the form cwm. 

The squareness and thinness of type which we have 
seen appearing in the above specimen increases in course 
of time, and is most characteristic of later Visigothic 
writing of the eleventh and early twelfth centuries, In 

16 


226 Paleography. 


this change, too, we may trace the same influence which 
is seen at work in other handwritings of Western Europe 
of that period. 

Our last Visigothic facsimile is supplied by a MS, of 
the Commentary of Beatus on the Apocalypse, now in the 
British Museum (Pal. Soc. 1. pl. 48), which was written 
in the monastery of St. Sebastian of Silos, in the diocese 
of Burgos, in the year 1109. 


ar hance poclam patie? uatinp αι 


foctof fiyuifuc. cuquof ratios” 

le Sa ee eller oF 
i i a 

ancePabubreum dit parmutebar? 


In dolon buss quy 6 bunmyg uw Prone 
— 2: 
pactum. fe ptfutum : ἡδέα: aa ὦ 
COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE.—A.D. 1109. 


(ad hane ecclesiam pertrait + ut semper sibi | socios requirat . 
cum quos precipitetur | in geenna, semper enim hec mulier 
etiam | ante adventum domdni parturiebat | in doloribzs suis . 
‘que est antiqua ecclesia | patrum et profefarum . et sanctorum 
et apostolorwm) 


Merovingian Writing. 


The hands which have been classed as Merovingian, 
practised as they were over the whole extent of the 
Frankish empire, were on that account of several types; 
and, as has been already stated, the boundary line 
between the different national hands is not always to 
be accurately traced. First to consider the style of 
writing to which the name of Merovingian may par 
excellence be applied, we turn to the many official 


Latin Palxography. 227 


documents still in existence of the Merovingian dynasty 
which are to be found in facsimile in such works as 
Letronne’s Diplomata (1848), the Facsimile de Chartes 
et Diplomes Mérovingiens et Carlovingiens of Jules 
Tardif (1866), the Kuaiserurkunden wm Abbildungen of 
von Sybel and Sickel (1880, etc.), and the Musée des 
Archives Départementales (1878). In these the Roman 
cursive is transformed into a curiously cramped style of 
writing, the letters being laterally compressed, the 
strokes usually slender, and the heads and tails of letters 
exaggerated. As an example we may take a section 
from a charter of Childebert III., in favour of the Abbey 
of St. Denis, of the year 695 ('lardif, Monuments His- 
toriques, p. 28). 


a9 ἜΝ bean AP 
Hrd hotarmstnd uta race 


IC. on fn Bt Oh 1? 
ΝΣ ὅπ ΐϊῃ youn 2 
ref (TY matty ist C2 


Agim OTN FLA ἡ τυ ἦν 


CHARTER OF CHILDEBERT 11.--.Ὁ. 695. 


[sexcen|tus eum roganti pro ipso conposuisset et pro { — 
bse ex Hosdinic in pago Belloacense ad inte[ grum | 
per suv estrumentum delegasset vel fir[{masset] | —ibidem ad 
presens aderat interrogatum fuif | —sua in suprascripto loco 
Hosdinio ipsius Haifnoni] | —[vJel firmasset sed ipsi Boc< 
tharius clirecus in) 


a 


228 Palxography. 


There is no difficulty in tracing the descent of the 
various forms of letters here employed from the parent 
stock, the Roman cursive. But, besides such shapes 
as those of the varying t and the high-written a and 
the coalescing form of the same letter in combination, 
as in the word ad, which at once arrest the eye, special 
notice may be taken of the narrow double-c shaped a, 
which is characteristic in this hand, and, in a less degree, 
of the u, worn down into acurved or sickle-shaped stroke 
—a form which is found in the book-hand, not only as 
an over-written u, but also as a letter in the body of 
the writing. 

The book-hand immediately derived from this style 
of writing, which is, in fact, the same hand moulded into 
a set calligraphic style, appears in various extant MSS. 
of the seventh and eighth centuries. We select a speci- 
men from a Lectionary of the Abbey of Luxeuil, written 
in the year 069." 


Wc 8h aruerbum sade: CHOMANUIC: 
oak Mud. Ren 
4 δὲ δῆς απο ραν, CROSS SM 
VPIKUIONE- φ' caus bum: 18>) 
Gecen dshacauys, UNG PE Fomine 


LECTIONARY OF LUXEUIL.—A.D. 669. 


(hic est qui verbum audit et continuo c[um gau] | dio accipit 
illud non habet autem in s[e radicem| | sed est temporalis, 
facta autem tri[bulatione] | et persecutione . propter verbum . 
con[tinuo] | scandalizatur, qui autem est semina|tus]) 


Le = νε΄ 


2 See Notice sur un Manuscrit de PAbbaye de Lureuil, by L. 
Delisle, in Notices et Extraiis des MSS., tome xxxi.; and Questions 
Meérovingiennes, no. iii., by J. Havet (1885). 


a ὉΝ 


Latin Paleography. 229 


As an example of the same type of writing, but of 
later date, the following facsimile is taken from a MS. 
of Pope Gregory’s Moralia, probably of the latter part 
of the 8th century, in the British Museum (Add. MS., 
31,031; Cat. Anc. MSS. ii. pl. 33). 


ae Le 


ae = Fart 


vipat 


ST. GREGORY’S MORALIA.—S1TH CENTURY. 


(deseratur . Quia et frustra velociter currit— | veniat deficit. 
Hine est enim quod de reprobis— | sustinenciam. hine est enim 
quod de electis suis— | mansistis mecum in temtacionibus meis . 
hinc— | ad finem iustus perseverasse describitur) 


Of other types of handwriting which were used within 
the limits of the Frankish empire and which must be 
considered under the present division, there are some 
which bear a close resemblance to the Lombardic style— 
so close, indeed, that many MSS. of this character have 
been classed as Lombardic. We are here, in fact, in 
presence of the same difficulties as have been noticed 
under the section dealing with Lombardic writing; and 
have to deal with examples, any classification of which, 
in face of their mixed character, cannot but be to some 
extent arbitrary. 

The following specimen is from the Harney MS. 5041, 
in the British Museum, containing theological treatises, 
and homilies, of the end of the 7th century. It can- 
not be doubted that the volume was written in France, 


@ 


~_— eee ee 
Ρ vr 


230 Paleography. 


and in the character of individual letters it is of the 
Merovingian type, while in general appearance it has 
rather a “Lombar dic cast. 


Cumprcsor hominibesrmem ray quicabree ), 
yu corn omingy 1G oe quicipres nCoc gus 
Qar mp icacg omy furG prt ccltiqudine 
acSmont WKcéfa Hrenreaa Creyrm 

pas τὶ COMMITHISNZ γάζα απ Πα’ 


HOMILIES.—LATE 7TH CENTURY. 


(Cum praees hominibus memento quia tibi est dews | iudicans 
homines scito quia ipse iudicaveris— | Qui locum predicationis 
suscipit ad altitudine | boni actionis ad excelsa transeat et 
eorum | qui sibi commissi sunt opera transcendat) 


The letters which may be specially noticed are the a 
and the sickle-shaped u which were referred to above. 

There are also a certain number of extant MSS. of the 
eighth and ninth centuries of a particular type, of which 
some were certainly written in France, while others 
appear to have been written in Italy. There seems then 
to be a doubt whether we should class this hand as 
Lombardic or as a variation of Merovingian. It cer- 
tainly approached more nearly to the Lombardic style. 
It appears, for example, in the Paris MS. 3836, con- 
taining a collection of Ecclesiastical Canons, of the 8th 
century (Pal. Soc. 1. pl. 8,9); in some leaves of the early 
part of the 8th century added to a MS. of Homilies, etc., 
written at Soissons early in that century*; and, on the 


3 See Notice sur un Manuscrit Merovingien de la Bibliotheque 
Royale de Belgique, by L. Delisle, in Notices et Hxtraits des MSS., 
tome xxx1. Mons. Delisle classes these leaves as Lombardic, and 
remarks : “ I] nous fait voir combien l’emploi de l’écriture lombardique, 
importée chez nous par des moines italiens, devait étre ordinaire dans 
les abbayes franaues.” 


other hand, in the Harley MS. 3063, the commentary of 
Theodore of Mopsuestia on the Pauline Epistles (Cat. 
Anc. MSS. ii. pl. 35), of the 9th century, which, from 
internal evidence seems to have been written in Italy. 
We select a few lines from the Soissons MS. 


Latin Paleography. 231 


Dntmidéh ἘΠῚ] “is {lad gquedtrepspes 


pum ania IsUNT, ee ad 
ia lm lacupl BARD 


plaarel aes fam τοῖς 
plegen’ sora medias letonimts61 


SERMON OF ST. CZSARIUS.—STH CENTURY. 


(aliis maledicere propter illud quod scriptu[m}— | regnum dei 
possedibunt , Numquam iurar[e|— | vir multum iurans im-, 
plebitur iniquitat{e|— | de domo illius plaga . Quod autem: 
dicit de do— | plagam.’ non de domo terrena sed de anima ei), 


But it must not be forgotten that the Uncial and Half- 
uncial styles were still employed for the production of 
the greater number of literary MSS.; and that the pro- 
fessional scribes, who were of course expert both in 
those formal book-hands andinthe more cursive characters 
of the Merovingian, would naturally, when writing with- 
out special care or in a rough and ready style, mix the ᾿ 
characters of the different hands, Thus we are prepared 
to find the influence of the uncial and half-uncial showing 
itself in modifying the extravagances of the cursive 


502 Palxography. 


Merovingian, and, on the other hand, the cursive breaking 
out among lines written in a more formal character. 
Two very interesting MSS. in a variety of hands in 
which these influences are marked have been described 
by Monsieur Delisle: Notice sur un Manuscrit Mero- 
vingien d’Hugyppius (1875) written early in the 8th 
century. and Notice sur un Manuscrit Merovingien de la 
Bibliotheque dEpinal (1878) of the Epistles of St. 
Jerome, written in the year 744. The two following 
facsimiles represent two of the many hands employed. 


Epoaighe quodpay 4 pavers dic Burs 
C Δι ἦν! αὐ“ CAN Lue Urceycy 
εἰς pyspadqch nor ότι combo m& mi 
Nu hy CYOCL ceyypvuce.cyecetarf nus 
tech menveprecedi cur cpedoe 
Ge prinpor ne. ΤΣ 


EUGYPPIUS.—S8TH CENTURY. 


(—e potuerit quod per serpentem dictum | —fructu ligni illius 
vescerentur quia sci | —dews propter dinoscentiam boni et ma | 
—[bo]num creature suae creator invi | —[spirJitali mente 
praeditus credere | —[cre]dere ipsi non possit . propterea 
mu—) 


Here we have a hand cast into a fairly simple form, 
but in some words using more cursive letters than in 
others. 

In the next example the influence of the half-uncial 
style is more evident, and the minuscule book-hand has 
here advanced to that stage of development which only 
required a master to mould it mto the simple and elegant 
form which it was soon to receive. 


Latin Paleography. 233 


Nopofrscerrembancaay 
Ppenicruy prourzemrruebond? 
TOU 1YZ0- Lt nn 
Uw erfkerd eryjzquTr wip tay 
artuca’proreme: 


™ en <0410n Gy. eda, 


ST, JEROME.—aA.D. 744. 


(—1i oportet . ante tribunal Christi | —[co]rporis sui . prout 
gessit . sive bonum. | —te virgo. filia Sion. quia magna | — 
[t]ua effunde sicut . aqua cor. con(tra] | —[man Jus tuas . pro 
remedium pecca[torum]| | —[la]mentationem . et nullo quidem) 


Later examples of the eighth century continue to 
show an advance towards the desired minuscule literary 
hand which should take the place of the less convenient 
uncial writing. 


The Caroline Reform. 


The period of Charlemagne is an epoch in the history 
of the handwritings of Western Europe. With the 
revival of learning naturally came a reform of the writing 
in which the works of literature were to be made known. 
A decree of the year 789 called for the revision of church 
books; and this work naturally brought with it a great 
activity in the writing schools of the chief monastic 
centres of France. And in none was there greater 
activity than at Tours, where, under the rule of ‘Aleuin 
of York, who was abbot of St. Martin’s from 796 to 804, 
was specially developed the exact hand which has received 
the name of the Caroline Minuscule. Monsieur Delisle, 
in his Mémoire sur Ecole calligraphique de Tours au 


234 Palxography. 


ww siécle (1885) * enumerates as many as _ twenty-five 
MSS. of the Carlovingian period still in existence which, 
from the character of the writing, may be ascribed to 
the school of Tours or at least to scribes connected with 
that school. 

Of the capital writing employed in the titles and other 
ornamental parts of such MSS. we need not concern 
ourselves; but, besides the minuscule hand, there is a 
hand, employed, in a sense, as an ornamental form of 
writing, which is characteristic of the school and is 
adapted from the Roman Half-uncial hand of the sixth 
century. We select a few lines from one of Monsieur 
Delisle’s facsimiles, taken from a MS. at Quedlinburg. 


Necreuit Ctampullacumo 


Leo quod benedixeractuper— 


Confratummarmorempa 


uimentum caecidit στ 


Ceara e(c INUENTOU 


SULPICIUS SEVERUS.—EARLY 9TH CENTURY, 


(ne crevit et ampulla cum o | leo quod benedixerat super | con- 
stratum marmorem pa | vimentum caecidit et in | tegra est 
inventa) 


Tf reference 1s made to the facsimiles of half-uncial 
writing above (p. 202) it will be seen how in this hand 
the sentiment of breadth in the older hand is maintained, 
as ¢.g.in the sweeping strokes of r ands, and in the width 


4 Brtrait des Mémoires de ? Académie des Inscriptions et Belles- 
Lettres, tome XxXxii. 


ee ee, 


Latin Paleograply. 235 


and curves of aand m. The shape of gis also to be 
noticed ; and not less the employment of the capital N. 

The habit of copying this fine bold type of early 
writing undoubtedly contributed to the elegance of the 
minuscule hand which was developed in the French 
school. Of this hand the following example is selected 
from the same MS. of Quedlinburg. 


exubers b:caprarum.-autoulum pat 
Torummanupradi nif: Longalinea 
coptofilacaf ef fluere! puer fur~ 


roxic incolomif:'Kofobfapefaca 
tanracramiraculo. tdquod pf 


cogebar uertta{: facebam uy Won 


SULPICIUS SEVERUS.—EARLY 9TH CENTURY. 


(ex uberibus caprarum aut ovium pas | torum manu praessis . 
longa linea | copiosi lactis effluere.’ Puer. sur | rexit incolomis. 
Nos obstupefacti | tantae rei miraculo . id quod ipsa | cogebat 
veritas fatebamur . non) 


We now leave for the present the further consideration 
of this new style and devote the following chapter to an 
examination of the early Irish and English schools of 
writing, which followed a different line from that of the 
continental national hands. 


CHAPTER XVII. 
LATIN PALHOGRAPHY.—CONTINUED. 
Irish Writing. 


THE origin and development of the early handwritings 
of our own Islands differ from those of the continental 
nations of Western Europe which have been examined ~ 
in the last chapter. While on the continent the Roman 
Cursive hand formed the basis of the national forms of 
writing, in Ireland and England the basis was the 
Roman Half-uncial. 

The foundation of the early Church in Ireland and 
the consequent spread of civilization naturally fostered 
the growth of literature and the development of a 
national school of writing; while at a later period the 
isolation of the country prevented the introduction of 
new ideas and changes which contact with neighbouring 
nations invariably effects. Ireland borrowed the types 
for her handwriting from the MSS. which the Roman 
missionaries brought with them; and we must assume 
that the greater number of those MSS. were written in 
the half-uncial character, and that there was an unusually 
scanty number of uncial MSS. among the works thus 
imported ; otherwise it is difficult to account for the 
development of the Irish hand on the line which it 
followed. 

In writing of the course of Greek Paleography we 
had occasion to noticé the very gradual changes which 
came over the handwriting of Greece, confined as it was 
to a comparatively small district and to a single language. 
In Ireland this conservatism is still more strongly marked. 
The hand which the modern Irish scholar writes is 


᾿ 

᾿ 
᾿ 
> 


Latin Paleography. 237 


essentially, in the forms of its letters, the pointed hand 
of the early middle ages; and there is no class of MSS. 
which can be more perplexing to the paleeographer than 
Jrish MSS. Having once obtained their models, the 
Irish scribes developed their own style of writing and 
went on practising it, generation after generation, with 
an astonishing uniformity. The English conquest did 
not disturb this even course. The invaders concerned 
themselves not with the ianguage and literature of the 
country. ‘hey were content to use their own style of 
writing for grants of land and other official deeds ; but 
they ἰοῦ the Irish scribes to go on producing MSS. in 
the native characters. 

The early Irish handwriting appears in two forms: 
the round and the pointed. Of pure uncial writing we 
have to take no account. There are no undisputed 
Irish MSS. in existence which are written in that style ; 
although the copy of the Gospels in uncials, which was 
found in the tomb of St. Kilian and is preserved at 
Wiirzburg, has been quoted as an instance of an Irish 
uncial MS. The writing is in ordinary uncial characters 
and bears no indication of Irish nationality (Z. and W., 
Ezempla, 58). 

The round Irish hand ishalf-uncial, and in its characters 
there is close relationship with the Roman half-uncial 
writing as seen in the MSS. of Italy and France dating 
from the fifth or sixth century. A comparison of the 
earliest surviving Irish MSS. with specimens of this 
style leaves no room to doubt the origin of the Irish 
round hand; and, without accepting the traditional as- 
cription of certain of them to St. Patrick or St. Columba 
or other Irish saints, there can be no hesitation in 
dating some as far back as the seventh century. We 
may therefore place the period of the first development 
of the Irish round hand somewhat earlier, namely, in 
the sixth century, the Roman half-uncial MSS. of which 
time evidently served as models. 

Among the oldest extant Irish MS. of this character 
is the fragmentary copy of the Gospels, of an early 
version, in the library of Trinity College, Dublin (Nat. 


238 Paleography. 


MSS. Ireland, i. pl. 2; Pal. Soc. 11. pl. 83), which is to ~ 


be ascribed to the latter part of the 7th century. The 
writing bears a very close resemblance to the con- 
tinental half-uncial hand, but at the same time has the 
distinct impress of its Irish nationality, indicated gene- 
rally in a certain angular treatment of some of the 
strokes which in the Roman half-uncial MSS. are 
round, 


Curmeur pupa uepicclemaa 
SC ponhab eo quoclponaman 
acitledeirurrerpondaw 
ἴηι moicearerre Jamaru 
Cf Cpe iwecubiculem Cum, 
Nowportim Tunrgere Cclane- 
GOSPELS.—LATE 7TH CENTURY. 


([ami]cus meus supervenit de via a{d mej | et non habeo quod 
ponam an{te illum] | ad ille deintus respondens [dicit no] | li 
mihi molestus esse iam ostiu{m clusum] | est et pueri in eubi- 
culo mecum [sunt] | non possum surgere et dare) 


The MS. may be cited as a specimen of a style of 
writing which was no doubt pretty widely used at the 
time for the production of MSS. of a good class—a 
careful working book-hand, which, however, did not 
compete with the sumptuous style for which the Irish 
scribes had by this time become famous. ‘he same 
kind of writing, but more ornamental, is found in a 
Psalter (Nat. MSS. Ireland, i. pl. 3, 4) traditionally 
ascribed to St. Columba, but probably also of the same 
date as the Gospels just described. 

No school of writing developed so thoroughly, and, 


Latin Palxography. 239 


apparently, so quickly, the purely ornamental side of 
calligraphy as the Irish school. The wonderful inter- 
laced designs which were introduced as decorative 
adjuncts to Irish MSS. of the seventh and eighth 
centuries are astonishing examples of skilful drawing 
and generally of brillant colouring. And this passion 
for ornamentation also affected the character of the 
writing in the more elaborately executed MSS.—some- 
times even to the verge of the fantastic. Not only were 
fancifully formed initial letters common in the principal 
decorated pages, but the striving after ornamental effect 
also manifests itself m the capricious shapes given to 
various letters of the text whenever an opportunity 
could be found, as, for instance, at the end of a line. 
The ornamental round hand which was elaborated under 
this influence, is remarkable both for its solidity and its 
graceful outlines. The finest MS. of this style is the 
famous copy of the Gospels known as the ‘ Book of 
Kells,” now in the library of Trinity College, Dublin 
(Nat. MSS. Ireland, i. pl. 7-17; Pal. Soc. i. pl. 55-58, 
88, 89), in which both text and ornamentation are 
brought to the highest point of excellence. 


Foac Ye tpsum HOUP 
uum facere-Strrec 1sRah 
cenoar HuUNCoecRUCce— 
muse: Gupdircquduo 
Sere-eun stuuGc νας. 


B.OK OF KELLS.—7th CENTURY. 


240 Paleography. 


(fecit . Se ipsum non p[otest sal] | vum facere si rex Israh[el 
est des] | cendai: nune de cruce[et crede] | mus ei . Confidit in 
domino [et nune li] | beret eum si vult dixit) 


Although tradition declares that the MS. belonged to 
St. Columba, who died in the year 507, it does not 
appear to be older than the latter part of the seventh 
century. 

It was a volume of this description, if not the Book 
of Kelis itself, which Giraldus Cambrensis, in the twelfth 
century, saw at Kildare, and which he declared was 50. 
wonderful in the execution of its intricate ornamental 
designs that its production was rather to be attributed | 
to the hand of an angel than to human skill. The oftener : 
and the more closely he examined it, the more he found | 
in it to excite his admiration.” 

Another MS. of Irish execution, which is of the same 
character, but not nearly so elaborate as the Book of | 
Kelis, is the copy of the Gospels of St. Chad, at Lich- | 
field (Pal. Soc. i. pl. 20, 21, 35). But the grand style of 
round half-uncial writing which is used in these MSS. . 
was not adapted for the more ordinary purposes of 
liserature or the requirements of daily intercourse, and, 
after reaching the culminating point of excellence in the 
Book of Kells, it appears to have quickly deteriorated— 
at all events, the lack of surviving examples would 
appear to indicate a limit to its practice. The MS. of 
the Gospels of MacRegol, written about the year 800, 
now in the Bodleian Library, is a late specimen, in . 
which the comparative feebleness and rough style of the 
writing contrast very markedly with the practised : 
exactness of the older MSS. 


1 “ Sin autem ad perspicacius intuendum oculorum aciem invitaveris 
et longe penitius ad artis arcana transpenetraveris, tam delicatas et 
subtiles, tam arctas et artitas, tam nodosas et vinculatim colligatas, 
tamque recentibus adhue coloribus illustratas notare poteris intri- 
caturas, ut vere hee omnia potius angelica quam humana diligentia 
jam asseveraveris esse composita. Hc equidem quanto frequentius 
et diligentius intueor, semper quasi novis abstupeo, semper magis ac 
magis admiranda conspicio.”"—Topographia Hibernia, ii. 38. See 
Nat. MSS. Ireland, ii. pl, 66. 


Latin Paleography. 241 
propheuts cauclicanc Uo 
abracham secisiquis emo 
caTaam agen arc aaucem 1 
nauelt uTcheg:siquis exmMor 


GOSPELS OF MACREGOL.—-*ABOUT A.D. 800. 


(prophetas audiant illo[s]— | abracham sed si quis ex mofrtuis] 
— | [paeni]tentiam agent ait autem 111] | —nonaudiunt neque 
si quis ex mor|tuis])— 


The pointed Irish nand was derived from the same 
source as the round hand. On the continent we have 
seen that the national cursive hands were but sequels 
of the Roman Cursive subjected to varying conditions, 
and were distinct from the literary or book hands which 
were used contemporaneously by their side. The Irish 
scribes had, or at least followed, but one model—the 
Roman Half-uncial. The pointed hand is nothing more 
than a modification of the round-hand, with the same 
forms of letters subjected to lateral compression and 
drawn out into points or hair-lines, and is a minuscule 
hand. There cannot be much doubt that this style of 
writing came into existence almost contemporaneously 
with the establishment of a national hand. The round 
hand no doubt preceded it; but the necessity for a 
more cursive character must have made itself felt almost 
at once. The pointed hand, of an ornamental kind, 
appears in some of the pages of the Book of Kells, a 
fact which proves its full establishment at a much earlier 
period. The Book of Dimma (Nat. MSS. Ireland, 
i. pl. 18, 19) has been conjecturally ascribed to a period 
of about the year 650, but can scarcely be older than the 
eighth century. The first example to which a certain 


date can be given on grounds of internal evidence which 
17 


242 Palxography. 


are fairly conclusive is the Book of Armagh (Nat. MSS. 
Ireland, 1. pl. 25-29), a MS. containing portions of the 
New Testament and other matter, written, as it seems, 
by Ferdomnach, a scribe who died in the year 844. 


δ᾽ διζω ueb ne γα ότι yu Δηνηι-- 
{919 manduady Aus Oey ipeys ned: 
Induteminy Ane εἰηηὴ ply yawn δ΄ 
Cus ee Dey De wey tein 
pmaé nelatiha dé amarnt 
neq: ὑη νης mhonpen @ pat 
uy μέρα δ Faure nme μοῦ 

maur plane doy iy ~ 


BCOK OF ARMAGH.—BEFORE A.D. 844, 


([Id Jeo dico vobis ne soliciti sitis animz | quid manducetis aut 
corpori vestro quid | induamini nomne anima plus est quam 
ees | ca et corpus quam aésca vestimentwm | respicite volatilia 
celi quoniam non serunt | neque congregant in horrea et pater | 

vester celestis pascit illa nonne vos | magis plures estis illis) 


There is aclose resemblance between the writing of 
this MS. and that of the pointed hand written in 
England at the same period. 

The MS. of the Gospels of MacDurnan, in the 
Lambeth Library (Nat. MSS. Ireland, 1. pl. 30, 31) 
of the end of the 9th or beginning of the 10th century 
may be referred to as a specimen of the very delicate 
and rather cramped writing which tle Irish scribes at 
this time affected. 

In the eleventh and twelfth centuries the pointed 
hand took the final stereotyped form which it was to 
follow in the future, and had assumed the angular shapes 
which are henceforth characteristic of the Irish hand. 
As a good example of the early part of the twelfth cen- 
tury we select a passage from the Gospels of Melbrighte 
(Nat. MSS. Ireland, 1. pl. 40-42; Pal. Soc. i. pl. 212), 
written in the year 1138, and nowin the British Museum. 


=“ tT, es — 


Latin Palxography. 243 


ἀπεβιηὰ 7 nGmyon 
Ὁ dee mons ia ima HA. wr 
hort ἐξ wisezp Ovfy 
mb mor: ne i γε μυδωω 
apt moyamm mparcl Crates. Patt 
treoy “ea ame elena me Bemis 
gory box oF Gy. Pom 2 combo} sy pe 
cGye abbr TRenebae Mel Ἴ7ῶν; ADONAY) 


GOSPELS OF MELBRIGHTE.—A.D. 1138. 


(Penitentiam ef remisionem peccatorum in omnes gen | tes 
incipientibus ab ierusolima. Vos autem tes | tes estis horum. 
Et ego mitto promissum paris | mei in vos. Vos autem sedete 
hic in civitate quo | adusgwe induamini virtuteexalto, Eduxit | 
autem eos usgue in bethaniam. Et elevatis manibuws | suis 
benedixit eis. Et factum est cum benediceret illis re | cessit ab 
eis et ferebatur in celum δέ ipsi adoran|tes]) 


In the writing of this MS. the old forms of letters 
have undergone but little change, but yet they have 
assumed the essential character of the Irish medieval 
hand. Attention may also be drawn to the use of certain 
forms of abbreviation which are found almost exclusively 


in Irish and English MSS. 


But while the writing of Ireland remained untouched 
by external influences, and passed on from generation to 
generation with little change, the imfluence which, in 
revenge, it exercised abroad was very wide. We shall 
presently see how England was almost entirely indebted 
to Ireland for her national handwriting. In the early 
middle ages Irish missionaries spread over the Continent 
and founded religious houses in France and Italy and 
other countries, and where they settled there the Irish 
form of handwriting was practised. At such centres as 
Luxeuil in France, Wiirzbnre in Germany, St. Gall in 


244 Paleography. 


Switzerland, and Bobio in Italy, it flourished. At first, 
naturally, the MSS. thus produced were true specimens 
of the Irish hand. But thus distributed in isolated spots, 
as the bonds of connection with home became loosened 
and as the influence of the native styles of writing in 
their neighbourhoods made itself more felt, the Irish 
writers would gradually lose the spirit of their early 
teaching and their writing would become traditional and 
simply imitative. Thus the later MSS. produced at 
these Irish settlements have none of the beauty of the 
native hand ; all elasticity disappears, and we have only 
the form without the spirit. 


English Writing. 


The history of writing in England previous to the 
Norman Conquest takes a wider range than that of 
writing in Ireland, although, at least in the earlier 
periods, it runs on the same lines. Here we have to 
take into account influences which had no part in the 
destinies of the Irish hand. In England there were two 
early schools of writing at work: the one originating 
from Ireland, in the north, from which emanated the 
national hand, holding its own and resisting for a long 
time foreign domination; the other, the school of the 
Roman missionaries, essentially a foreign school making 
use of the foreign styles which they brought with them 
but which never appear to have become naturalized. 

We may commence with stating what little can be 
gathered regarding the foreign school from the few 
remains which it has left behind. That the Roman 
Rustic capital writing was made use of by the missionaries 
aud was taught in their school, whose principal seat 
must have been at Canterbury, is proved by the occur- 
rence of such specimens as those found in a Psalter of 
about A.D. 700, in the Cottonian collection, which belonged 
to St Augustine’s monastery at Canterbury (Cat. Ane, 
MSS. ii pl. 12. 13), and in one or two charters, or, more 


| 


“αὐτῶ δον ὦ ire. MN 


Latin Paleography. 24.5 


properly, copies of charters. The Psalter just referred 
to also affords an example of the character which the 
foreign uncial assumed in this Canterbury school—an 
unmistakably local character, of which, however, so few 
specimens have survived that perhaps no better proof, 
negative as it is, could be found of the failure of the 
Roman majuscule styles of writing to make their way in 
the country. The celebrated copy of the Bible, the 
“ Codex Amiatinus,” * which was presumably written in 
Northumbria about the year 700, must not be taken as 
an example of native uncial writing. The style is quite 
foreign ; the MS. is probably the work of foreign scribes, 
and has none of the local cast which belongs to the 
Canterbury uncial hand. We must suppose that the 
Canterbury school of writing ceased to exist at a com- 
paratively early period; and, as it had no influence upon 
the native hand, its interest for us is merely incidental. 

The introduction of the foreign minuscule hand in the 
tenth century is due to later political causes and to the 
growth of intercourse with the Continent; and it must 
be considered as altogether unconnected with the early 
foreign school which has just been discussed. 

Now, as to the native school of writing— 

St. Columba’s settlement in Jona was the centre from 
whence proceeded the founders of monasteries in northern 
Britain; and in the year 634 the Irish missionary Aidan 
founded the see of Lindisfarne (Holy Isle), which 
became a great centre of English writing. At first the 


writing was indeed nothing more than the Irish hand. 


transplanted into new soil, and for a time the English 
style is scarcely to be distinguished from that of the 
sister island. But gradually distinctions arose, and the 
English school, under wider influences, developed more 
graceful forms and threw off the restraints which fettered 
the growth of Irish writing. 

We have, then, first to follow the course of English 
writing on the same lines as that of Ireland, and to 
examine the two stylos, the round and the pointed, which 


2 See above, p. 194, 


246 Paleography. 


here, as in Ireland, were adopted as national forms of 
writing. The round hand again is a half-uncial hand. 
Uncial writing, as we have seen, was excluded from 
Irish writing and therefore finds no place in the Enghsh 
school of St. Aidan’s followers. 

The earliest and most beautiful MS. of the English 
round half-uncial is the copy of the Lindisfarne Gospels, 
or the “ Durham Book,” in the British Museum (Pal. 
Soc, i. pl. 3-6, 22; Cat. Ane. MSS, i. pl. 8-11), said 
to have been written by Hadfrith, Bishop of Lindisfarne, 
about the year 700. 


tu dst bdsn Jade SemAnar 


:eocg qui ΓΙΌ 

S/H Fon ον ΣᾺ ' 

Quonicon Ips! 
steno eened bs gon 


loduwor— 
a ie Xa Je Ye eon 


Γ΄ eo qui Βα 
ἡ Uyrypytay γ2 7 Ὲ ΦΥ̓ΖΡΥΥ & 


: ~ @srauuciufudem 


LINDISFARNE GOSPELS.—ABOUT A.D. 700, 


(Beati qui lugunt | quoniam ipsi | consolabuntur | Beati qui 
esuriunt | et sitiunt iustitiam |] Gloss: eadge bidon Ba ὅθ 
gemeonas | for Son δ. | gefroefred biSon | eadge bidon Ga Se 
hyncgra$ | and Syrstas soSfastnisse ) 


This very beautiful hand leaves nothing to be desired 
in the precision and grace with which it is executed, 
and fairly rivais the great Irish MSS. of the same period. 


Latin Palxography. 247 


The glosses in the Northumbrian dialect were added by 
Aldred, a writer of the tenth century. 

The round hand was used for books, and, less fre- 
quently, even for charters, during the eighth and ninth 
centuries ; but, although in very carefully written MSS. 
the writing is still solid, the heavy-stroke style of the 
Lindisfarne Gospels appears generally to have ceased at 
an early date. We give a specimen of a lighter character 
from a fragmentary copy of the Gospels which belonged 
to the monastery of St Augustine, Canterbury, though 
not necessarily written there (Pal. Soc. i. pl. 8; Cat. 
Anc. MSS. ii. pl. 17, 18). 1Ὁ is probably of the end of 
the 8th century. 


enue cum Gpnoice ocbste~. 
δοματη, δὶ esc Gam uno ocute 
THUTcoaN Wiqhape Quoc duos 
oculos hadencem ΤΌΤ] 

ILC hennam 1GMs - 


CANTERBURY GOSPELS.—LATE 8TA CENTURY. 


(erue eum et proice abs te. | bonum tibi est eum uno oculo | 
in vitam intrare quam duos |oculos habentem mitti | in 
gehennam ignis) 


In its original state this MS. must have been a volume 
of extraordinary magnificence, adorned with paintings 
and illuminated designs, and baving many leaves stained, 
after the ancient method, a beautiful purple, a few of 
which still remain. 

Other specimens of this hand are found τῇ the Durham 
Cassiodorus (Pal. Soc 1. pl. 164), the Epinal Glossary 
(Early Engl. Text Soc.), and in some charters (Facs. 
Ane. Ch. i. 15, ii. 2, 3; Pal. Soc. i. pl. 10). One of the 
latest MSS. in which the hand is written in its best 
form is the “ Liber Vite,’’ or list of benefactors of Durham 


248 Palxography. 


(Cat. Anc. MSS. ii. pl. 25; Pal. Soc. i. pl. 238), which 
was compiled about the year 840. 


For study of the pointed English hand there has sur- 
vived a fair amount of material. This form of writing 
was used both for books and documents ; but, as might 
be expected, it is chiefly seen in the latter. The Fac- 
similes of Ancient Charters in the British Museum and 
the Facsimiles of Anglo-Saxon MSS. (Rolls Series), 
besides many plates published by the Palzographical 


Society, contribute largely to our knowledge of the — 


different varieties of the hand as practised in various 
parts of the country, and we are even able to distinguish 
certain forms as peculiar to certain districts. ‘The period 
covered by existing documents in the pointed hand, 
properly so called, ranges from the eighth to the tenth 
century ; later than this time, the changes effected in 
its structure by contact with southern influences mark a 
new departure. In the oldest specimens the writing 
generally exhibits that breadth of form and elegance of 
shape which we have noticed in other handwritings in 
their early stages. Then comes the tendency to lateral 
compression and fanciful variations from the older and 
simpler types. In illustration of the progress of this 
hand it will be convenient to select facsimiles from both 
books and documents in chronological order, the dis- 
tinction between book-hand and cursive hand being not 
very marked, although here, as elsewhere, we must 
expect rather more care in the writing of books than in 
that of documents. 

Our first example shall be selected from the remark- 
ably handsome copy of Bede’s “ Hcclesiastical History,” 
in the University Library of Cambridge, written probably 
not long after the year 730 and, it has been conjectured, 
at Epternach, or some such Anglo-Saxon colony on the 
Continent. The MS. is also famous as containing the 
original Anglo-Saxon of the song of Cedmon (Pal. Sac. 

i. pl. 199, 140), 


— δας Σὰ.» Se ee ee eee eee ee 


SR 


r = 
. 


Latin Patxography. 249 


ADIWMTAP-TV ATIF CANON 
Ge papuacanpoenarry pace 
Lronampondrcpelisione 
brenypelay yg adcenpoy-ap 


capmmumaliqne MAICHPAT 
La@rnaeCatrya dc pom ue 


BEDE’S ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY.—MIDDLE OF 8TH CENTURY. 
([divi]nitus adiutus . gratis canendi— | et supervacui poematis 
facere— | [re|ligionem pertinent religiosam eiws— | [ha]bitu 
seculari usque ad tempora pvo—- | carminum aliquando didicerat 
— | laetitiae causa decretum ut) 


Nothing could be finer of its kind than the broad, 
bold, style of this hand, and 1t requires no demonstration 
to explain its evolution from the perfect round hand of 
the early Irish and English scribes who could execute 
such books as the Book of Kells and the Lindisfarne 
Gospels. 

We make an advance of some half-century and next 
take a few lines from a charter of Cynewulf, King of the 
Mercians, of the year 812 (Pul. Sve, i. pl. 11). 


π΄ eqn quogs Slopuopryyin me" 
euenc ay repr qrage \Lacutc raquo pes 
ep conypengaigbus pryemicey> peragey 
huncay woccancap: |yeca orpeprbucjonan 
Lond appellatupr Aad ceyyiain wide 


MERCIAN CHARTER.—A.D. 812. 


250 Paleography. 


(Indictione v. Regni quoquwe gloriosissimi Me[reiorum]— | 
eventus verbi gratia placuit itaque reg[i]— | —eorum consen- 
tientibus firmiter perager[e]— | hlinéas vocitantur iuxta distri- 
butionem— | —lond appellatur. Quam terranf vide|licet]) 


The writing of this document is more laterally com- 
pressed than the preceding example, and is refined and 
elegant. Many of the existing charters of Mercian 
origin of this period are in this style, and prove thie 
existence of an advanced school of penmanship in the 
Mercian kingdom. Comparing with those deeds other 
finely written specimens which belong to the kingdom 
of Kent, we are disposed to discern in the latter the 
influence of the Mercian school. 

In contrast with this elegant style of writing we find 
a hand practised chiefly in Wessex, and less widely in 
Kent, in which the letters are roughly formed and adopt 
in some instances peculiar shapes. The following 
specimen is taken from a MS. in the Bodleian Library, 
which was written at Winchester, apparently before the 
year 863, and contains collections relating to the paschal 
cycle and other computations (Pal. Soc. i. pl. 168). 


mino αὔν- 8 6d dg, btanlfimo-ac 
porzelico. mihi 4; pote: onm plus 
a colfirde. papa: Lénr poayca nus 
>. Apogzo Suri ocr 

ο- Φ αννοξν»»,τζιληι) ἃ Θεεϊ δ oilua 

| woe. pcipr qu nudrees mee: 


COMPUTATIONS.—MIDDLE OF 9TH CENTURY. 


({Do]mino vere . sancto adque beatissimo ac | [a]postolico. 
mihiqwe post dominum pluri | [m]lum.colendo Papa Leoni. 
Pascasinus | [epi]scopus Apostolatus vestri scripta | [diacon Jo 
Panormitane Kcclesie . Silva | [no deflercnte . percipi que 
nuditati mez) 


Latin Palxography. 251 
It will be observed that in this MS.,, although the 


writing is cast mto a fairly regular mould as a book 
hand, the letters are rather straggling in shape, as for 
example in long s and r, and particularly in the t, the 
bow of which terminates in a short thickened stroke 
or dot. 

The rugged nature of this southern hand is more 
apparent in the less carefully written charters, as will 
be seen from the following facsimile taken from a 


Kentish charter of the year 853 (Fucs. Ane. Chart. ii. 33). 


fi 1 na pe φὺ μθυσάζθυ 
Uw νι θηζῆν Lape) cay fu 
ῳ ne Puy 4: Cov) pyre hanyi one 


"ΟΜ ἢ ἃ dimmu nit Smanear 


KENTISH CHARTER.—A.D, 858. 


({Pas|singwellan hancque livertatem | —tum liventer largitus 
sum | —[dominatiJone furisqwe conprehensione | —|[se |cura 
et iumunis permaneat) 


The change which tok place in the English pointed 
hand in the course of the tenth century is very marked, 
and towards the close of the century the influence of 
the French minuscule hand begins to assert itself, and 
even, under certain conditions, to usurp the place of the 
native hand. Characteristic is the disposition to flatten 
the upper part of the round portion of such letters as 
a and q, and, so to say, cut it off at an oblique angle. 
This will be seen in an example selected from a charter 
of Aithelstan of the year 931 (Facs. Ane. Chart. ui. no. 3), 
a good instance of a carefully written document which, 
while exhibiting the new forms just referred to, retains 
much of the gracetul character of the earlier century. 


252 Paleography. 
<0 nb Da. ici τυ γ5 110 te 
S 4aUtTt B pie, abay Rie ! 
eames arAO 1H" ‘seth . 
gut Ω͂ 
are, ‘dea Pasles er P prs 


CHARTER OF ZTHELSTAN.—A.D. 931, 


(to ottes forda ; Sonon to wudumere— | Si autem quod absit . 
aliquis diabol[ico ]— | examinationis die . stridula cla[ngente] 
— | qui 4 satoris pio sato . filius perd_ itionis]— | atque invente 
voluntatis scedula . An{no]) 


With this we may compare the writing of a Latin 
Psalter of about the year 969 (Pal. Soc. i. pl. 189), 
having an interlinear Anglo-Saxon gloss of the early 
part of the lith century. The text is written with 
regularity in well-formed minuscules; but the influence 
of the foreign school can be detected in the fluctuations 
of certain forms, as e.g. in the letter s, the round shape 
being more generally used than the long Saxon letter. 


qu do δ Onanne κα 


1eaciad bonu-non-&- ufg:adunu 
os mae πὲ bejera pal ofey 


profperte sup με 


man’ na 126? aie a ynder pe 


ominum: Are uidtad Sieso 117 


dende pie . fevende émhern 


hy curopequipens. © ΒΕ ΗΠῚ 


€ fran wahyldan Υ η unnyr 
my declinauenans- simul muales 


PSALTER.—ABOUT A.D. 969. 


a re 


ἣ 
“ἀκ δι τὰ Ν᾽, αὶ ἡ 


Latin Paleography. 253 


(qui faciad bonum non est usque ad unum | [Domi]nzus de celo 
prospexit super filios | hominum.' ut videad si est intelle | gens 
aut requirens deum | [O]mmes declinaverunt simul inutiles || 
Gloss: pa do god ua op on anne | drihten of heofena besceawap 
ofer bear | manna pet geseo gif is ynderstan | dende opSe 
secende drihten | ealle fram ahyldan ztgedere unnyt) 


This is not the place to discuss the establishment 
of the foreign minuscule hand as an independent form 
of writing in England. This subject will engage our 
attention when the history of that form of writing will 
be treated as a whole and its progress throughout the 
different countries of Western Europe will be taken 
into one view. It is enough at present to notice the fact 
that foreign minuscules generally take the place of the 
native hand in the course of the tenth century for Latin 
texts, while the Saxon writing still held its own for 


texts in the vernacular. Thus, in charters of this period 


we find the two styles standing srde by side, the body of 
the document, in Latin, being written in the foreign 
minuscule hand, and the boundaries of the property 
conveyed, expressed in Anglo-Saxon, being in the native 
hand. This foreign invasion naturally made its chief 
impression in the south, if we may judge from the fact 
that three important MSS. of English origin, which still 
survive, and which are written in the continental style, viz. 
the charter of King Eadgar to New Minster, Winchester, 
of the year 966 (Pal. Soc. i. pl. 46, 47), the Benedictional 
of Bishop Aithelwold of Winchester, earlier than the 
year 984 (Pal. Soc. i, pl. 142, 144), and a MS. of the 
Office of the Cross in the British Museum (Pal. Soe. i. 
pl. 60), which, though not quite so early, falls in the 
first years of the next century, A.D. 1012-1020, were all 
executed in the southern royal city. 

The beginning of the eleventh century is an epoch of 
decided change in the native minuscule hand. It cannot 
any longer be called a pointed hand. The body of the 
letters becomes squarer, and the strokes above and 
below the line become longer than before. In a word, 
the writing has by this time lost its compactness; and 


254 Palxography. 


the change must be attributed to exterior influence, the 
sentiment of the foreign style of the period being 
instilled ito the native characters. This change is 
well illustrated by a MS. of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle 
of about the year 1045 (Pal. Soc. 1. 242). 


qhiy bpoviop enc endmunNnd abeling, eal 
ecpect -ypupda tequm. embebpunna 
duron. con bate Linda: hamonala 


pryporr: ppahimeathelepey i heen cn 
camp ofr. po lappa xehpene Land eal 


ANGLO-SAXON CHRONICLE.—ABOUT A.D, 1046. 


(and his broSor eac eadmund epeling ealjdor|]— | ef secce. 
swurda ecgum . embe brunna{nburh ]— | clufon _ heowon heapo- 
linda . hamora la[fum]— | weardes swa him geeepele wees . fram 
cn[eo|— | campe oft . wip labra gehweene land eal[godon]) 


The same characteristics are seen im the series of 
charters of this century. From one of these, dated in 
1038 (Facs. Ane. Ch., iv. no. 20), we select a faw lines. 
The writing is very neat and uniform. It is interesting 
to notice the survival, in an altered shape, of the 
fashioning of the top of the letter a into a point by an 
oblique stroke, which was noticed above as characteristic 
of the tenth century. Here the top stroke, made inde- 
pendently of the body of the letter, is generally a hair- 
line nearly horizontal. The practice of marking the letter 
y with a dot, as seen in this facsimile, is a survival from 
about the sixth century, when it appears te have been 
first followed in uncial MSS. for the purpose of distin- 
euishing the Ὑ from V. 


ae oo a Δ 


i a ὦ _ 


pe ΡΡΡΡΣΣ βαβον fo. 
sail ΠΞΣῚΣ aya 


ΤΙ στε qenecmyffe. amen . 


CHARTER.—a.D, 1038. 


(begen pa to eallon gebropran and bedon— | heom ealie 
togedere endemes pet he hit— | pa gyrnde he pet he moste 
macian forna{ngen |— | and se arcebisceop eadsige let hit eall 
to heora— | wolde pet scip ryne sceolde perinne licgea[n]— | 

willan . and se abbod let hit eall pus. and se hire[d]— | sancte 
augustine . pis is eall 50 gelyfe se pe— | callon a on ecnysse , 
amen), 


This is a favourable specimen of the charter-writing 
of the period. Many of the surviving documents are 
written in a far rougher style, but in all cases the 
lengthening of the main strokes, as well as deteriora- 
tion in the forms of letters, marks the hand of the 
eleventh century. 


With the Norman Conquest the native English minus- 
cule hand disappeared as an official hand. ‘The con- 
querors brought their own form of writing, and the 
history of later charters and legal and official documents 
written in England is the history of the law-hand— 
the hand used in the courts of law and for legal busi- 
ness generally, The native hand had already practically 
disappeared as the handwriting of the learned. ‘There 
remained only books composed in the native tongue in 
which to employ the native form of writing: and there 


" 4 Ἂς" >) 5 
& * pa * ee ὟΝ 
a : a τας = 


νυ ᾿ 
> 


τ Ραλα ΡΝ 
it continued, for a certain time, to survive, mor 
more, However. losing its independent character, 
being evermore overshadowed and displaced vee 
new writing of the continental school, until at lens 
the memory of the old hand survives only in the para- 
doxical employment of the letter y to represent the aa 
Saxon long thorn p, particularly in writing the definite — 5 
article, ye for pe. We break off, then, with the period of © 
the Norman Conquest as virtually marking the end of | 


the English hand of the Anglo-Saxon type. 


A δε ἃ" 


Vin~ 


CHAPTER XVIII. 
LATIN PALHOGRAPHY—CONTINUED. 


The Literary or Book-Hand in the Middle Ages, 


WE have now examined the various national handwrit- 
ings of Western Europe, as they were developed within 
the borders of different countries. We have seen how 
they had their origin in different styles of Roman writ- 
ing, and how they followed their own lines and grew 
up in different forms under different conditions. And 
yet, with all their variations from one another, they 
followed one general law of development, passing from 
the broad simple style in the early periods through 
stages of more artificial calligraphy to eventual de- 
generation from their first standards. We have now to 
rather the threads together and follow the course of the 
handwritings of Western Europe along a new line. One 
form of handwriting had been developed, which by its 
admirable simplicity recommended itself at once as a 
standard hand. The Caroline Minuscule, which we have 
already seen brought to perfection at Tours and at other 
monastic centres of France, spread quickly throughout 
the confines of the Frankish empire, and extended its 
influence and was gradually adopted in neighbouring 
countries. But at the same time, with this widespread 
use of the reformed hand, uniformity of character could 
18 


258 Paleography. 


not be ensured. National idiosyncrasies show themselves 
as manifestly in the different handwritings of different 
peoples as they do in their mental and moral qualities , 
and, although the Caroline minuscule hand forms the 
basis of all modern writing of Western Europe, which 
thus starts with more chance of uniformity than the old 
national hands which we have been discussing, yet the 
national character of each country soon stamps itself 
upon its handwriting. Thus in the later middle ages we 
have again a series of national hands, clearly distinguish- 
able from each other, although im some degree falling 
into groups. 

First we follow the course of the minuscule hand as 
a book hand, reserving the examination of the more 
cursive styles used for legal and other documents for a 
later chapter. 

In a former chapter we have examined the develop- 
ment and final moulding of the Caroline minuscule 
hand, and we left it established as the literary hand of 
the Frankish empire. Its course through the ninth 
and tenth centuries, particularly on the Continent, can 
be traced with fair precision by means of the excellent 
facsimiles which have been published during recent 
years. Its general characteristics during the ninth 
century, at least in the better written examples, are 
these: the contrast of fine and heavy strokes is marked, 
there is a tendency to thicken or club the stems of tall 
letters, as in Ὁ, d, h; the letter a is often in the open 
form (ὦ), and the bows of the letter g are often lett 
unclosed, somewhat after the fashion of the numeral 3. 
In the tenth century, the strokes are usually of a less solid 
cast ; the clubbing gradually disappears; the open a (in 
its pure form) is less frequently used, and the upper bow 
of g closes. No fixed laws can, however, be laid down for 
distinguishing the MSS. of the two centuries, and the 
characteristics which have been named must not be too 
rigidly exacted. As in all other departments of our 
subject, practice and familiarity are the best guides. 

Jn illustration of the finest* style of writing of this 
class in the ninth century, we may take a few lines 


Latin Palxography. 259 
from the Gospels of the Emperor Lothair, executed in 
the middle of the century in the Abbey of St. Martin of 
Tours and now preserved in the Bibliothéque Nationale 
in Paris (Album Paléogr. pl. 22). For such a book the 
most skilful writers were of course employed, and the 


handwriting was formed in the most accurate and 
finished style of the new school. 


Ascparalyaco : tabidico 
furse : Cccolle leca~ 
mum. ecuadeindomu 
aum, Enonfefam 
fc αὐτὸς τῆ Γ᾽ coramlif 
Tulicinquoracebac 
caabucindomumfax 


GOSPELS OF LOTHAIR.— MIDDLE OF 9TH CENTURY. 


a 


(Ait paralytico . tibi dico | surge. et tolle lectum | tuum . et 
vade in domum | tuam ; Et confestim | surgens coram illis | 
tulit in quo iacebat | et abiit in domum suam) 


This MS. shows scarcely any advance upon the style 
of the MS. of Quedlinburg quoted above (p. 235), We 
may notice the prevalent use of the open-bowed g to 
which reference has been made as characteristic of this 
time; but an instance of the open a does not happen to 
occur in the facsimile. The general style of the writing, 
however, is quite typical of the ninth century. Greater 
variety is seen in a MS. containing commentaries of 
St. Augustine, written by order of Bishop Baturich 
of Ratisbon in 823, and now in the Koyal Library 
of Munich (Pal. Soe. i. pl. 123). 


260 Paleography. 


Ke ΓΑ Δ ΤᾺ inaenum cuscemmb te 
οἱ dileAne. ἐς, Terrem diligeeerrecerstid 
quid cicam: εἶσαι Mon cet eo dcere X th 


aiid armaats ‘ge εἶνκι ἘΣ ofac-e/tlu secol te 
uslepeene 6 filucba ere Holere dil cere 


COMMENTARY OF ST. AUGUSTINE.—A.D. 823. 


(sie et vos maneatis in eternum‘ quia talis est— | eiws dilectio 
est; Terram diligis‘ terra eris; d— | quid dicam . deus eris? 
Non audeo dicere ex m— | audiamus: ego dixi dii estis . et 
filii excelsio— | vultis esse dii et filii altissimi, Nolite diligere—) 


The writing here is in some respects rather archaic, 
and may be quoted as an example produced outside the 
direct influence of the French school, but at the same 
time conforming generally to the new style of the 
period. 

Next we select two specimens from two MSS. of 
Lyons, the one a commentary of Bede, written before 
852; the other containing works of St. Augustife, 
written before 875 (Album Paléogr. pl. 20). 


uxorifeus abigail wmeruencce ecomunertbuf 
decem dier moftuo nabal ipfeacapre uxore 
devezrabel. darauxore fua michol fala fal 
71 phar prodenabur raul dercendit conc 

wprenocce dercendenr dormierabur can 


COMMENTARIES OF BEDE.—BEFORE A.D. 852. 


Latin Paleography. | 261 


(uxoris eius abigail interventa et muneribus— | decem dies 
mortuo nabal ipse accipit uxore[m]— | de iezrahel . data uxore 
sua michol falti fil— | Zipheis prodentibus saul descendit 
cont{ra]— | ipse nocte descendens dormientibus cun[ctis]—) 


This MS. is more carelessly written than the preceding, 
and shows in the general character of the letters a 
falling off from the earlier models of the Caroline minus- 
cule hand and rather an advance towards the more 
meagre style of writing of the next century, when the 
graceful contrast of heavy and fine strokes is gradually 
lost. The survival of the old high-shouldered letter r 
may be noticed in the word mortuo in the second line. 


allo Appeam figns ficand: precfealiquid Ali 
nofa factinc. ficur ες furuf figns ficanfigne 
uolenf fignficare id facie: fed -erum expera 
Adu er fiont A/norarione cognof cry lenens 
fifumuf foluf. Appareary Sed ecueftigium wr 


ST. AUGUSTINE.—BFFORE A.D. 875, 


(ullo appetitu significandi preter se aliquid aliu{d]— | nosci 
faciunt . sicuti est fumus significans ignem— | volens signifi- 
care id facit . sed rerum experta[rum]— | adversione et nota- 
tione cognoscitur. Ignem— | si fumus solus appareat., Sed 
et vestigium tr—) 


This MS., while it is later than the other, is written 
in rather better style, but a facsimile of only a few lines 
can hardly make this very evident. 

The two specimens may be taken as typical examples 
of the ordinary French minuscule book-hand of this 
time. 


The very gradual change which came over the writing 
of the tenth century as compared with that of the ninth 
century is well illustrated by a MS. in the British 


262 Palexography. 


Museum, containing the commentary of Rabanus Maurus 
upon Jeremiah (Pal. Soc. 11. pl. 109), which, from 
internal evidence, could not have been written earlier 
than the year 948. 


fuo urporiat cerranid mfolaudine. cucart 
q habmurore Ife € uedixim ucrufnabucho 
aduerfanufnr diabolus quufileorugienf ar 
τη religunduf: ft. Knemircur oxorar 
leu ure dequodicai €- Ommniatamicouifuoue 
RABANUS MAURUS.—AFTER A.D, 918. 


(—suo ut ponat terram tuam in solitudinem . civitates | —que 
habitatore. Iste est ut diximws verus nabucho[donosor] | 
adversarius noster diabolus quasi leo rugiens cir{cuit] | —in 
quas religandus est . et ne mittatwr exorat . | —levavit de quo 
dictum est. Omnium inimicorum suorum) 


The not infrequent occurrence of the open a and the 
general regularity of the writing would have inclined us 
to place this MS. within the ninth century, had not its 
approximate date been clearly ascertained. It may be 
the work of an old man who had not grown out of the 
training of his younger days. At all events it is an 
interesting instance of an older style of writing surviving 
into a new generation, and emphasizes the difficulty of 
accurately assigning MSS. of the period of the ninth 
and tenth centuries to their true positions—a difficulty 
which is enhanced by the comparatively few MSS. of 
the tenth century which bear dates. 

In illustration of the ordinary minuscule hand of the 
Caroline type in this century, we may take a facsimile 
from a Sacramentary of Corbie in the Bibliothéque 
Nationale (Delisle, Cabinet des MSS. pl. 81). 


Latin Paleography. 263 


pofhbifemp Wubic: gratiafagere 
os aged eal . onoru auc 
umrommnudigniracu-pqucphe 
fa -pquecuncta Armanay-. Am 
fernp inmelius; pacuractacionalit” 
SACRAMENTARIUM.—10TH CENTURY. 


(Nos tibi semper et ubique gratias agere— | pater omntpotens 
aeterne deus. Honorum auc[tor|— | [distrijbutor omnium 
dignitatum - per quem proficfiunt] [univer] | sa . per quem 
euncta firmantur . Am[plificatis] | semper in melius natyre 
rationalis) 


It will be seen that the letters are not so well formed 
and are less graceful in stroke than in the earlier 
examples. They are also rather squarer and are more 
slackly written. Comparing this example with the 
facsimile from the Gospels of Lothair (p. 259), a single 
glance is enough to satisfy the eye of the change which 
the lapse of a century can effect in a style of handwriting. 
It is true that the Lothair Gospels are written in the 
finest style of the ninth century, and this example is an 
ordinary one of the tenth century, and the contrast 
between two MSS. of the two centuries would not m all 
cases be so marked. For the present purpose, however, 
strong contrast is a first object. 

All the specimens which we have given of this class 
of Caroline minuscule writing represent the normal 
hand of the Frankish empire. Another style, however, 
was also followed in the eastern districts, which de- 
veloped later into the hand which we recognize as 
German. The special characteristic of this style is the 
sloping of the letters and a certain want of finish, 
which, perhaps, may be due to distance from the 1η- 
fluence of the French centres of Caroline writing. A 
MS. of this class is the Fulda Annals at Leipzig, written 


264 Paleography. 
at the close of the ninth century but before the year 882 
(Arndt, Schrifttafeln, pl. 44). 

τισι εἶς. quod ill non inficierteef quafdam Affercon 
pacioruun west fumlium quibuf gree per gulrextem 
re τῇ func obpofuerute- afque Leen conprehe 


uz lepers aphafuggef ferume per.gund barium Ag 
colome Rthenr gauclam yerueyen fen galle- be 


ANNALS OF FULDA.—BEFORE A.D. 882, 


({tes]tatus est quod illi non inficientes quasdam assercion[ibus] | 
racionum verisimilium quibus geste rei qualitatem [muni] | re 
nisi sunt obposuerunt easque litteris conprehe[nsas| | ut legati 
apostolici suggesserunt per gundharium agr[ippine] | colonie et 
theotgaudum treverensem gallie be[]gice]) 


And another example of the same period, but written 
in a rougher manner, may be selected from a MS. of 
Canons, in the Library of St. Gall, of about the year 888 
(Pal. Soc. i. pl. 186). 


Epo Apamefrrie-” Cisphrara γί το" 
angr © Theodoro repiofiffimo epo hiero 
Beporzo reliquofiffimo epo neocepryg 
elupofiffimo epobofere philpporelige 
γ17Ὸ 1 " -τρρεοάΐστο νας bine evo fele- 
CANONS.—AboUr A.D. 888. 


(episcopo apamie syrie. Euphranta religiosis[simo]— | [Ty]- 
anorum. Theodoro religiosissimo epzscopo hiero| polis] | — 
Bosporio religiosissimo epdseopo neocesarie | | [r]eligiosissimo 
ep/scopo bostre Philippo  religifosissimo] | — mirorum . 
Theodoto religioszssimo episcopo sele{tie]) 


In both these examples is apparent the lack of sense 
of grace which is so marked a failing in mediaval Ger- 
man writing. 


a lok ee 


χα ed 


Latin Paleography. 265 


It will here be convenient to follow briefly the pro- 
gress of the continental minuscule hand, as practised in | 
France and Germany, into the eleventh century, before 
touching upon the course which it took in England. In 
that century lies the period in which the handwritings 
of the different countries of Western Europe, cast and 
consolidated in the new mould, began to assume their 
several national characters, and which may be said to 
be the starting-point of the modern hands which em- 
ploy the Roman alphabet. In the course of the century 
many old practices and archaisms which had lingered 
are cast off, and general principles are more systemati- 
cally observed. ‘The words of the text are now more 
generally separated from one another; abbreviations 
and contractions are more methodical; and the hand- 
writing makes a palpable advance towards the square 
and exact character which culminates in the MSS. of 
the thirteenth century. 

The general characteristics cf the writing of the first 
half of the century are shown in the followmg facsimile 
oS MS. of Saints’ Lives at Paris (Cabinet des MSS., 
pl. 32). 


caam domintca queaduencrar nocre acdc: 
anam pmehotam quarn saqanfiru dig gue 
ὑπο magno conaurfu fideuum. mula de 
obscure ur nod tu « inteydiu congrey a 
LIVES OF SAINTS.—111TH CENTURY. 
(etiam dominica que advenerat nocte ac die— | [ vesper]tinam 
pene horam quarti a transitu diei que— | [habe]batur . magno 
concursu fidelium multaque de— | [frequen]tabatur . ita ut 


noctu et interdiu congregat—) 


In a later and more compressed style is a MS. of 
the Life of St. Maurillus, at Paris, written about the 
year 1070 (Cabinet des MSS., pl. 34). 


266 Paleography. 


curradishe- Quo cafine’ mora-ueniflec- pace: 
ἴοςι μη ΤῊΝ ucbenedicaon; poder furmartmere 
deuscut pRolabanc: ntq uof “pare reel caida pu 


mid. infirrnicate excepoye ¢ranarit feculusa Ρ 


LIFE OF SAINT MAURILLUS.—ABOUT A.D. 1070, 


(—tur ad urbem . Quo cum sine mora venisset . et pace— | tuta 
regredi cepisset ‘ antequam ad pontem leuge per— | loci ipsius 
ut benedictionibus presulis firmari mere[rentur] | devotius 
prestolabantur . Inter quos‘ parentes cuiusdam puleri]— | 
[ni]|mia infirmitate extempore gravatum secus viam per) 


- And of a bold type of the close of the century is the 

next facsimile, from a Bible written at Stavelot in the 
Low Countries between the years 1094 and 1097, and 
now in the British Museum (Pal. Soe. 11. pl. 92). 


trmone TAS Infanabilif eft dolor ταις 
τοῦ mubzrardmem miqurantme, & pr 
cliya peccaa tua feethec τιδι' Propeer 
qu comedunr te devoraburmur, & uniu 
ἤτύται m capruracem ducer & qu 
BIBLE.—A.D, 1094—1097. 
([con]tritione tua? Insanabilis est dolor tuu[s Prop] | ter mul- 
titudinem iniquitatis tue et prfopter] | dura peccata tua feci 


hee tibi. Propter[ea omnes] | qui comedunt te devorabuntur . 
et univ[ersi ho] | stes tui in captivitatem ducentur . et qu{i]) 


When examining the early English forms of writing 
in use before tha Norman Conquest, we noticed the 


Peeters ἢν π ee 87 Ne 


Latin Palxography. 267 


result of the introduction of the continental minuscule 
hand in England as a general form of writing, for 
Latin texts, in the course of the tenth century. Tho 
character which the English scribes impressed upon 
this imported style is that of roundness—a character 
which indeed continued to mark the Latin writing 
of MSS. executed in England for a long time. No 
better example of this round English hand could be 
quoted than the Benedictional of Aithelwold, Bishop of 
Winchester from a.p. 963 to 984 (Pal. Soc. 1. pl. 142). 
The MS. is not only a valuable example of English 
writing of this period, but is also famous for the inte- 
resting drawings which it contains, 


eee CRATE, MAN MEE -NOUA 


(ρα prole feamdeé. fida 
écantan{ uofmunact repleat 
&fuac muobif benedicaomid 
na nfundar:’ A MEN 


BENEDICTIONAL.— A.D. 963—984. 


(virginitate manente . nova | semper prole fecundét . fidei 
[spei] | et caritatis vos munere repleat | et suae in vobis 
benedictionis d|o]na infundat . Amen) 


It is interesting to notice that, while the letters are of 
the foreign type, there is a strongly-marked English 
character in the writing which is unmistakable, even if 
it were not known that the scribe was an Englishman. 
And the difficulty which English scribes appear to have 
experienced in laying aside their native style when 
writing the continental minuscule hand is remarkably 
well illustrated by a MS. of Pope Gregory’s “ Pastoral 
Care,” in the Bodleian Library, which is probably of the 
beginning of the eleventh century (Pal. Soe. 11. pl. 69), 


263 Patlexography. 


tmanmibuf deliberando cogracury 
tag: Εβ qui print foramen mpariece. 

cermur: scone demum occulca 
demonfrac< ‘quianimirum unite 


nuf fina formcuf-demde anus 


DE CURA PASTORAII.—EARLY 111TH CENTURY. 


(imaginibus deliberando cogitatur ; | —itaqwe est quia prius 
foramen in pariete | —cernitur.’ et tunc demum occulta | — 
demonstratur .' quia nimirum uniuscuiws | —[p|rius signa 
forinsecus . deinde ianua) 


The thoroughly Anglo-Saxon form of the letter t will 
be observed, as well as the compromise between the 
fiat-headed Saxon g and the 3-shaped French minuscule 
which the scribe has effected in his rendering of the 
letter. But in the course of the century, and consequent 
on a closer intercourse with the Continent, the foreign 
minuscule, as written by English scribes, lost all such 
marks of the native writer and developed, on the lines 
of the writing of the Athelwold Benedictional, into a 
beautifully exact hand, with correct forms of letters, and 
distinguished by the roundness which has been described. 


In a work of limited scope, such as the present one, 
it is impossible to do more than select a certain number 
of specimens to illustrate the different hands of the 
successive centuries of the middle ages. Dating from 
the twelfth century onwards, the number of existing 
MSS. is comparatively large, and the varieties of hand- 
writing to be found in them are numerous, each country 
at the same time having its own style and developing 
individual peculiarities. But there is not space to illus- 
trate the writing of each individual country. The most 


Latin Patexography. 269 


that can be done, in order to give an idea of the main 
line of development from century to century, is to place 
before the reader a few facsimiles of typical MSS. of 
the different periods, which may serve as a general, 
though imperfect, guide; and in making this selection 
we shall depend mostly upon MSS. of English origin, as 
being probably of more practical value to those who 
will make the chief use of this book. 

The twelfth century was a period of large books, and 
of forms of handwriting on a magnificent scale. The 
scribes of the several countries of Western Europe seem 
to have vied with each other in producing the best types 
of book-writing of which they were capable, with the 
result that remarkable precision in the formation of the 
letters was attained, and that the century may be named 
as excelling all others for the beauty of its MSS. in 
general. Great advance was made at this period towards 
the compressed and angular style which marks the 
writing of the later middle ages as compared with the 
rounder hands of the centuries immediately succeeding 
the Caroline reform. 

The following facsimile is a good example of the bold 
style of writing which is found in numerous MSS. of 
English origin in this century. It is taken from a 
commentary of Bede upon Ezra, which was written at 
Cirencester not long after the year 1147 (Pal. Soc. ii, 


pl. 72). 
αὐδὰν oniimodif utdon? 
que dita figura opouf 
erav babrutra-eo annoui 
numen onder iniertin- 
αὐ numer phi drit 
Opin wee urginif fae 


BEDE ON EZRA.—AFTER A.D. 1147, 


270 Palxography. 


({de]cebat omnimodis ut domus | quedoménici figuram corporis 
erat habitura .’ eoannorum | numero conderetwr in ierusalem 
qwo dierum numero ipsum domini| corpus in utero virginis 
3acr'o) 

The handsome appearance of this English hand of the 
twelfth century can hardly be surpassed. It certainly 
bears most favourable comparison with the other hand- 
writings of Northern Europe of the same date; and we 
must go to Italy to find anything so fully pleasing to 
the eye. 

In this calligraphic style the growth of upstrokes from 
the base of the main strokes in the form of hair-lines 
lends an ornamental effect to the writing. It is the 
beginning of a practice which, when carried farther, 
tends to cause confusion in the decipherment of the 
short-stroke letters i, m, n, u, when two or more of them 
happen to come together. The form of the general mark 
of abbreviation and contraction, the short oblique curve, 
may also be noticed as very general in MSS. of English 
origin in this century. 

As an example of French writing of this period we 
select a facsimile of a MS. of Valerius Maximus, written 
ia the year 1167 (Cabinet des MSS., pl. 37). 


ndfferpio.cuplurimefzclaritt 
mif family fuccognonumtb: ab_ 
undarev anferuilé feraptoifap - 
pelanone ποῖαι fermone tate 
EP buieendifurdhmari qfunt- 


VALERIUS MAXIMUS.—A.D. 1167. 


({Cor]nelius scipio cum plurimis et clarissi | mis familie sue 
cognominibus ab | undaret. in servilem serapionis ap | pella- 
tionem vulgi sermone impactes | est quod huiusce nomenis vic- 


timario quam simil[lis}) 


Latin Paleography. O71 


And to illustrate the less elegant style of the German 
hand of this time, we take a few lines from a MS. of 
Origen’s Homilies, of the year 1163 (Arndt, Schrifttaf., 
pl. 51). 


gram dparticipanone’ det appellanrut’ pu" d¢ & 
ἅν aun (cripnaa dic: ap dies di caf Bireri09: 
ds ftear m tynagpga deme. St ht quamurf apa’ 
cef ine di-& hoc nomme donar p gram ude’? 
Ἀπ τη" nulls ram deo fomusf mucin 


HOMILIES OF ORIGEN.—A.D. 1163. 


(gratiam et participationem dei appellantur diif de quibus | et 
alibi scriptura dice#. Ego dixi dii‘ estis . et iterum | deus 
stetit in synagoga deorwm. Sed hi quamvis capa | ces sint dei. 
et hoc nomine donari per grateam vide | antur . nullus tamea 
deo similis invenitur) 


We may be content with these three specimens to 
represent the writing of Northern Europe. In the south 
a different style prevailed. ‘The sense of grace of form 
which we perceive in the Lombardic writing of Italy 
is maintained in that country in the later writing of 
the new minuscule type, which assumes under the pens 
of the most expert Italian scribes a very beautiful and 
round even style. This style, though peculiarly Italian, 
extended its influence abroad, especially to the south ot 
France, and became the model of Spanish writing at a 
later time. We select a specimen from a very handsome 
MS. of Homilies of the first half of the 12th century 
(Pal. Soc. uu. pl. 55), written in bold letters of the best 
type, to which we shall find the scribes of the fifteenth 
century reverting in order to obtain a model for their 
MSS. of the Renaissance. The exactness with which 
the writing is here executed is truly marvellous, and was 
only rivalled, not surpassed, by the finished handiwork 
of its later imitators. 


272 Paleography. 


fuerat vadmuruf-Vt quem fecun 

prefidem poft fe facere difponeb 
eundem facerec plenum at; per 
babentem mie ἐς digmitarem qua 
ceLlartr ἐς pore{tarem qua cunc 


HOMILIES.—12rH CENTURY. 


(fuerat traditurus. Ut quem secun{dum] | presidem post se 
facere disponeb[at] | eundem faceret plenum atquweper[fectum] | 
habentem in se et dignitatem qua [pre] | celleret . et potes- 
tatem qua cunc(tis]) 


It will of course be understood that this was not the 
only style of hand that prevailed in Italy. Others of a 
much rougher cast were also employed. But as a typical 
book-hand, which was the parent of the hands in which 
the greater proportion of carefully written MSS. of 
succeeding periods were written in Italy, it is to be 
specially noticed. 


The change from the grand style of the twelfth 
century to the general minuteness of the thirteenth 
century is very striking. In the latter century we reach 
the height of the exact hand, in which the vertical 
strokes are perfectly formed but are brought into 
closer order, the letters being laterally compressed, the 
round bends becoming angular, and the oblique strokes 
being fined down into hair-lines. In the second half of 
the century there appears to have been a great demand 
for copies of the Bible, if we are to judge by the large 
number of surviving examples, and the minnteness with 
which many of them are written enabled the scribes to 
compress their work into small volumes, which stand in 
extreme contrast to the large folios so common in the 
preceding century. An interesting example of the 
transitional hand of the end of the twelfth century, in 
which the writing is reduced to a small size, but yet is 


— = 2 τ “σε 


Latin Paleography. 273 


not compressed with the rather artificial precision of 
some fifty years later, is found in a MS. of the Historia 
Scholastica of Petrus Comestor, written for Elstow 
Abbey in the year 1191 or 1192. 


- - ι - 
mares oF atobo-[F.da m remiffions Av 
he γάτῆρ veliban( λίσ Part οίε ὃς eam, 
Cr fil’ ambo capiee teuncan fie ere ame 
MpHAAT πῆς hovel t carte. αὐ τοιοῦ; Azimng . 
τῶ ἢ luebar ἀμ oceade't Bt cxafbodet (ar 
: - 4 “-- 
εἐἰ(τἤθιοις ef cueftoatend. 111). Gemomby τ ΠΣ 
HISTORIA SCHOLASTICA.—A.D. 1191-2. 
(martirium ‘ dixzt iacobo. Pater .da mzhi remissionem, At | 
ille parumper deliberans . ait . Pax tebi‘ ef osculatus est eum. | 
Et simul ambo capite truncati sumt. Petrum autem | appre- 
hensum misit herodes in carcerem . quia in diebus azimo|rum 


non licebat aliquem occidere. Ht preter custodes car | ceris‘ 
tradidit eum custodiendum quatuor quaternionibus militwm.) 


As a good illustration of the perfect style of the book- 
hand of the first half of the thirteenth century, we 
next select some lines from a Bible, written at Canter- 
bury between the years 1225 and 1252 (Pal. Soc. i, pl. 
73), which exhibits great regularity and precision in the 
compressed writing. 

mamenen.t fan eftira. Yoram firma 
monet tert. cclam. ffm cftefperma 
ne Aves o3. Dyer erro tens: Congregrarer 
aque qe {wb clo fur in locum tmirm: 
adqpaar anion fetng: eft 1a-{rrocaute Bs 
aridam ττττη τη -ongreganonesq; aqui 
aggellanter mana.Cenidiedans abo 
qarc- bermmer cera hertam ttrencem 4 
facentem fementlignam pomtfrs:fact 


BIBLE.—A.D. 1225-1252. 
19 


274 Paleography. 


({firjmamento. Et factum est ita. Vocavitque firma | mentum 
deus celum, Et factwm est vespere et ma | ne dies secundus. 
Dixit vero deus. Congregentur | aque que sub celo sunt in locum 
unum: | etappareat arida . factumquwe est ita. Et vocavit deus | 

aridam terram: congregaticnesque aquarwm | appellavit maria. 
Et vidit deus quod esset bonum | et ait. Germinet terra herbam 
virentem et | facientem semen δέ lignum pomiferwm facilens})’ 


And of a still more ornamental type, of the second 
half of the century, is a Lectionary of the year 1269, 
which was written by an English scribe, John of 
Salisbury, at Mons in Hainault (Pad. Soc. ii. pl. 118). 


pps ὐδενιν non ofr 
Mant σπατσ αταπιζα rite αραι5. 
tines nr fobannes de 
ρα non haber falefburt {cp 


LECTIONARY.—A.D. 1269. 


(—cussione mirifiva treme | do palpitasse . Cuius mox | manu 
tenuit . et eum pa|tri viventem atque inco | lumem dedit. 
Liquet pe| tre quia hce miraculum | in potestate non habuit | 
nono . fuit liber | iste scriptus. | Iohannes de | salesburi 


serip| sit |) 


These two specimens have been selected as presenting 
the style of book-writing of the thirteenth century in 
its most decided form. There is no mistaking the 
period to which they belong. Variations from this high 
standard are of course to be found in the more ordinary 
MSS. written with less exactness; but in all writing of 


1 The oblique double hair-lines above the words “ Vocavitque” and 
“ firmamentum ” (lines 1 and 2) are marks of transposition. 


Ο  σνΎΗηΗ σστΤτΤψ Ὁ 


Latin Paleography. 275 


this time, whether formal or cursive, the rigidity, which is 
its strong characteristic, never fails to impress the eye 
almost at the first glance. 


With the fourteenth century we enter on a new phase 
in the history of Latin paleography; and the latter 
part of this century and the followimg century are a 
period of gradual decadence from the high standard 
which had been attained in the twelfth and thirteenth 
centuries, Asif wearied by the exactness and rigidity 
of the thirteenth century, handwriting now becomes 
more lax, the letters fall away in beauty of shape, and 
in those MSS., such as biblical and liturgical works, in 
which the old form of writing still remains prevalent, it 
degenerates into an imitative hand. At this period also, 
and including the latter part of the thirteenth century, 
we have numerous instances of the cursive or charter- 
bands being employed in the production of books as 
well as for documents. In England particularly a large 
number of law MSS., which date from the reigns of 
Edward I. and Edward II., are written in the charter- 
hand. But we here confine our attention to the more 
formal styles. 

As a specimen of a class of writing which is not un- 
common in the first half of the century, when the 
reminiscence of the teaching of the thirteenth century 
still remained and exercised a restraining influence, we 
may give a few lines from a MS. of the Legenda Aurea 
of Jacobus de Vorayine, which was written at Paris in 
1312 (Pal. Soc. i. pl. 222). Comparing this hand with 
the specimens of the previous century, the advance is 
apparent in the decreasing regularity of the strokes 
geuerally and in certain changes in the formation of 
some of the letters. For example, the letter a, which 
in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries normally has an 
open upper bow, now generally appears with the bow 
closed ; and the vertical stroke of the letter t, which at 
an earlier date, in the best specimens, does not rise 
above the transverse, now betrays an increasing dis 
position to do so. 


276 Paleography. 


LEGENDA AUREA.—aA.D, 1312. 


(testamenti .’ occidental/s autem non facit | festum ae sanctis 
veteris testamenti . eo quod ad infe | ros descenderunt . preter- 
quam de innocentibus | ex eo quod in ipsis singulis occisus est 
Christus .’ et de | machabeis . sunt autem quatuor rationes 
quware | ecclesia de istis machabeis licet ad inferos | deseend- 
erint? solempnizat . prima est propter pre) 


Next, we will take a specimen from a liturgical MS., 
a Psalter written in England about the year 1339 (Pal. 
Soc. i. pl. 99), in which the formal style of an older date 
is retained. 


taut Instnon pene 
birenm: ties farerdosm 
εἰ {dim mdme Π}}{ 
ommusa Derr’ Dee. 

πιιϑιοτ Piet mre ray. 


PSALTER.—ABOUT A.D. 1339. 


2 Original termination wnt, corrected into int by an underwritten 
deleting dot. 


ἡ 


Γ hited ol 


([IJuravit dominws et non penite | bit eum: tu es sacerdos in | 
eternum secundum ordinem melchisedec® | [D]ominus a 
dextris | tuis : confregit in die ire sue reges.) 


Latin Paleography. 277 


Apart from the actual shapes of the letters in which 

indications of the true date are to be detected, there 

| are forms of decoration employed which would not be 
found in writing of the preceding century. 

A formal French style of writing of the latter half of 
the century is well represented in a MS. of the “ Grandes 
Chroniques ” which was copied about the year 1377, and 
which illustrates the constantly increasing debasement 
of the individual letters from the old standard, although 
the setting and general run of the text are sufficiently 
regular (Album Paléogr. pl. 42). 


vite lame te vont qui tenant (6 touttrt 
arta chat vanensue fis Ie pruciit-le 
Done qui alles Lequewmit Vale te fa uA 
tiny cntin ent la ouietee ou pruciitt fang 
nulle ποισιτ t fanz nullc comuyriont 
ΘΠ ΠῚ ome cut frac en plait uni %& fa 
ite 911 LuUlertre - Ὁ ο fivivs qu Coretta 
τΠοιη τ quil auoir faite avaniblavuc 
lenta o; οι τ que home WH git flo 


GRANDES CHRONIQUES.—AB9OUT A.D. 1377. 


(une lampe de voirre qui devant son tombel | ardoit chai da- 
venture sus le pavement . le | voirre qui assez legierement brise 
de sa na|ture entra en la duresce du pavement sanz | nulle 
froisseure et sanz nulle corrupcion | aussi comme il eust fait en 
plain mui de fa | rine bien bulettee . Ses freres qui sorent la | 
desloiaute quil avoit faite assamblerent | leurs oz δέ distrent 
que homme de si grant felon) 


3 The syllable dec is written at the end of the line below. 


278 Palxography. 


As a contrast to this, we select a facsimile of a not 
uncommon type of the English hand of about the same 
time, which has a slightly cursive element in it, and 
which developed into the ordinary hand of the fifteenth 
century. Itis taken froma chronicle of English history, 
written about the year 1388 (Brit. Mus., Harl. MS. 3634). 


Or Sete βιδηο preps tite?’ fr ογοιπὸ 
mech ome Dens sas ri de 
πηι Grifin(s tS tusin ynetate ontibs v0 
τιὸ grpoftitlo wt th miiedas vertigen Sefir 
pis coat te neq seh 63 Antic 


ΘΙ 2S oval thet a of i 


Peprufe mx plowa pise eattolica foes ovals 
CHRONICLE.—ABOUT A.D. 1388. 


(Et ecce subito princeps iunctés manibus et erectis | in celum 
oculis deus gratias inquit δ᾽ ago de | cunctes beneficiis tuis 
tuam pietatem omnibus vo | tis expostulo ut mz/i concedas 
veniam delic | torwm eorwm que contra te nequiter perpetravi sed 
et a cunc | tis mortalibus quos scienter sive ignoranter offen | di 
remissionis gratiam tote corde poseo Cum | hee dixisset in 
plena fide catholica sp¢ritwm exala|vit])* 


Finally, to close the facsimiles of the handwritings of 
the fourteenth century, we take a few lines from a copy 
of Horace, written at Cremona in the year 1391 (Pal. 
Soc. 1. pl. 249), in the fine exact hand of Italian type 
which is found in so many surviving MSS. of the hundred 
years between 1350 and 1450, and even later—the direct 
descendant of the beautiful hand of the twelfth century, 
which is illustrated above (p. 272) by a facsimile from a 
MS. of homilies of that period. 


* This passage describes the death of the Black Prince. 


Latin Palxography. 279 


Ἢ atalts hove fen Siena 
ts efferic caprcortis unt 
ν mgs nt ibilt mado 
δ onfenor aftinn tions unpio 
B urcla faturuo refiulgeus 
€ nipurtolucrisa; fan 


HORACE.—A.D. 1391. 


(Natalis hore seu tyrannus | Hesperie capricornus unde | 
Utrumque nostrum incredibili modo | Consentit astrum te 
iovis impio | Tutela saturno refulgens | Eripuit . volucrisque 


fati) 


The course of the fifteenth century witnessed the final 
dissolution of the medieval minuscule book-writing. 
When printing was at length established, MS. books 
were no longer needed and only survived as specimens 
of calligraphy, especially in the Italian school. In this 
century there is, necessarily, an ever-increasing number 
of varieties of hands. The charter-hand is now very 
generally used for books as well as for documents. And 
while the formal minuscule hand is still employed for 
liturgical and other books, and under certain conditions 
is written with great exactness, it generally betrays an 
increasing tendency to slackness and to malformation or 
exaggeration of individual forms of letters: there is, in 
a word, an artificiality about it by which it is to be dis- 
tinguished from the purer style of two hundred years 
before. Between MSS. in the cursive charter-hand and 
the formal minuscule book-hand, there is that large mass 
of MSS., all more or less individual in their characteris- 
tics, which are written with a freedom partaking of the 
elements of both styles—an ordinary working hand, 
which has no pretensions to beauty of form, and which, 


280 Ταζροργαῤῆνγ. 


in course of time, grows more and more angular, not 
with the precise angular formation of letters as in the 
thirteenth century, but with the careless disregard of 
curves which accompanies rapid writing. And finally, 
in the latter part of the century we find those different 
styles of handwriting which were so markedly peculiar 
to the several countries of Western Europe, and which 
formed the models for the types of the early printers. 

We cannot here do more than select a few specimens 
to illustrate the general styles of the many varieties of 
handwritings of this century. 

The first is from a MS. containing a treatise on 
the Passion, by an Austin friar named Michael de 
Massa, which was written at Ingham, in Norfolk, in the 
year 1405 (Pal. Soc. 1]. pl. 184). 


τριατ μὴ natous ine “qu Tay 
prim d/ttonwe. pplomasn 
We fish Cente (αι quie cit eo uclimutite geliled 


pa escent gg ed 


pit! ry Dicuelus ante myaffione. 


—-— eee 


TREATISE ON THE PASSION.—A.D. 1400. 


([exo]ravit usqwe in passionis finem.’ quando corpus Christi 
de | positum fuit de cruce . δέ sepultum in sepulecro. Un | de 
subsecute sunt mulieres que eum ipso uenerant de galilea et 
vi | derunt monumentum . ef quemadmodum positum | erat 
corpus Iesu. Luce xxiii. Prima pars que inei | pit in die 
veneris ante duminicam in passione.) 


The writing is in the formal square literary hand, 
maintained chiefly in liturgical books from the earlier 
style, but is entirely wanting in the old regularity. The 
forms of the letters are weak and debased, and the 
general character is irregular and imitative. 


. 


Ϊ 


Latin Palxography. 281 


Of the same class of writing, but of rather later date 
and taken from a liturgical MS., is the following fac- 
simile from a selection of Psalms written for Humphrey, 
Duke of Gloucester, who died in 1446 (Brit. Mus., Royal 
MS., 2 B. 1). This is the common hand of the liturgies 
of English origin throughout the fifteenth century, and 
it maintains a monotonous uniformity for a comparatively 


long period. 


i a 10 Ὁ ὐὐκομηγηουδεῖ 
atbam varbam aaron. 

ἘΣ ab τ τ νόσωι moat ποηπιόπῇ ες 

fart 0s Hermon qin τ πὸ mi montE O6. 

ἘΞ nowiern Ulietmantanut ἐστπίπι δῦ. 

hetimenem: anita ufq3m fearhun.. 


PSALMS.—BEFORE A.D. 1446. 


(Sicut unguentum in eapite. ‘quod des | cendit in barbam bar- 
bam aaron | Quod descendit in oram vestimenti elus | sicut 
ros hermon qui descendit in montem sion | Quoniam illic 
mandavit dominus be | nedicciunem: e¢ vitam usque in secu- 
lum.) 


As acontrast to this formal book-hand we next select 
a specimen from a MS. of the chronicle of Robert of 
Avesbury, written, in a small half-cursive hand founded 
on the charter-hand, in the first quarter of the fiiteenth 
century (Brit. Mus., Harley MS. 200). 


cubs es ipo δ 1098 sroftera” ABs αι fb ΟΥΑΙ, ἢ 4 Z of. 
tes Sucre “ιῥετειριισειν + γιὰ να fora soe 
ones aes 8. Saugus “9 «ἱ PP Saw a 


rae APES at Couutdre J es MG 2 


“Θιιτοῖρ eet y Set HA iiss 
sea a payee = cote ger atid Beh 
φ 414 Bag, con αἥδω κα ἤβετι Ayr τὸρ δὲ 


R. DE AVESBUCRY.—EARLY ID5TH CENTURY. 


282 Paleography. 


([vin]eulum quo ipse eé nos noscimur adinvicem fore coniuneti 
necnoz ob [spcevalem] | affectionem δέ sinceram dilectionem 
quas erga pevsonam suam [super] | omves alios de sangwine 
nostro merito gerimus et habemus ac pro eo [quod ipse] | qui 
alios principes in stvenuitate preceliit melivs quam aliquis 
[alius] | poterit maliciam dictorwm rebellium per dei gratiéam 
refrenare mero [metu] | ac nostra pura et spontanea voluntate 
diligenti δέ matwia deliber[acione] | prehabita in hac parte 
dedimus concessimus οὐ presenti carta nostra co[ nfirmavimus]) 


This style of hand and a more hurried and angular 
form of the writing shown above (p. 278) in the facsimile 
from the chronicle of about the year 1388 were very 
generally used in England for MSS. of ordinary litera- 
ture in the fifteenth century, always becoming more 
slack and careless as time progressed. 

Turning to foreign countries, we first give a specimen 
of a common class of handwriting found in MSS. of the 
Netherlands and northern Germany at this period. 
There is a marked angularity and pointed style in the 
forms of the letters, besides their individual shapes, 
which impart to the general character of German and 
Flemish writing its peculiar cast. The facsimile is taken 
from a MS. of St. Augustine, De Civitate Dev, which 
belonged to Pare Abbey near Louvain, and was written 
in 1463 (Brit. Mus., Add. MS. 17,284). 


Roonmffiones. det ae fircte fit ad Abzahd a4 
(4 wh air ifinhchtrend (cde mene, ct onmeg 
gente: debei 7" fag deo polh conte Hdsomny 
qcadmodu compleantyp gdm 

Current det puutid moat. Qi ἐνῆν (ups 
one Libs softs αὐνυρβννς danid factud ¢ flow- 
mic ab cod svpno qin βρῶ ops firfiee’ 


ST. AUGUSTINE.—aA.D. 1468. 


Latin Paleography. 283 


({P]romissiones dei que facte sunt ad abraham cuiws | semini 
et gentem israheliticam secundum carnem, et omnes | gentes 
deberi secundum fiden deo pollicente didicimus | quemadmo- 
dum compleantur per ordinem temporwvm pro | currens dei 
civitas indicavit. Quoniam ergo superi | oris libri usqwe ad 
regnum david factus est finis: | nunc ab eodem regno quantum 
suscepto operi suffice,e) 


More strongly marked is the German character in the 
next facsimile, from a MS. of the Epistles of St. Jerome, 
written at Lippe in the year 1479 (Arndt, Schrifttaf., 59). 


Nactilo dcecmben πεῦλονστι δ asvotan 
Wott colores: fashonda, δισπλιί νι». 
CD we tit mya agers acarvin Alig 
VOM NEGUS {ow nalstfasen Aadne 
Quadeam mean(cg σεῦ μαι Laboze. 
Gin aliand Segre Dave Fceve mols 


ST. JERCME.—A.D. 14:79). 


(lectulo decumbentes . longaqwe egrotaci[one|— | notario cele- 
riter scribenda dictavimws.— | sed ne tibi in principio amici- 
ciarum aliq[uid|— | [vide ]remurnegare Ora nobiscum a domino 
— | duodecim menses, quibus iugi labore— | sim aliquid dig- 
num vestre scribere volu[ntati]}) 


The handwritings of northern and eastern France of 
the fifteenth century run on the same lines as those of 
other countries, sometimes following the set square style, 
more often developing varieties based upon the cursive 
charter-hand of documents. Among the latter there is 
one which should be specially noticed. It is found par- 
ticularly in MSS. derived from French Flanders and 
Burgundy, and afforded a pattern of type to the early 
printers. It is a heavy, sloping, and pointed hand, 


284 Paleography. 

which is in very common use for general literature, par- 
ticularly in the middle and latter part of the century. 
The following specimen of this kind of writing is taken 
from a volume of Miracles de Nostre Dame written for 


Philip the Good, of Burgundy, about the middle of the 
century (Album paléogr., pl. 43). 


urbien chantoit co haute €vv 
ella vice marie pzeferua & 

‘INT QUCtony MONIC OD MOH! 
Cn ANMCIIC futJAnG Due 


mu aloyent tous LeBfameds 


MIRACLES DE NOSTRE DAME.—ABOUT A.D. 1450. 


(—[q]ui bien chantoit et hault Eru | —[qul]el la vierge marie 
preserva de | —([A]nice que lon nomme orenmort | — en 
auvergne fut Iadis une | —quilz aloyent tous les samediz) 


Lastly, we give a specimen of a hand of the Italian 
Renaissance, a revival of the style of the eleventh or 
twelfth century, and a very successful imitation of a MS. 
of that period. It was this practice, followed by the 
scribes of the Renaissance, of reverting to that fine 
period of Italian writing (see p. 272) to find models for 
the exquisitely finished MSS. which they were compelled 
to produce in order to satisfy the refined taste of their 
day, that influenced the early printers of Italy in the 
choice of their form of type. The facsimile is from a 
MS. of Sallust, written at Florence in the year 1466 
(Pal. Sec. il. pl. 59). 


Latin αζροργαῤῆγ. 285 


τα ἀρραμρθμοάμκα uod ἢ hommbuf bonary 
fe periculof 

bids profueura το etiam a petit 

ae  : laearleonaga ie a + reed 

bball Sra ecore amg 

num compofitum excorpore camema eX tta: 


SALLUST.—A.D. 14.66. 


negocia transferunt. Quod si hominibus bonarwm | rerum 
tanta cura esset: quanto studio aliena ac | nihil profutura mul- 
toque etiam periculosa petunt: | neque regerentur 4 casibus, 
magis quam regerent casus .’ | et eo magnitudinis procederent .’ 
ubi pro morta | libus gloria eterni fierent. Nam uti genus 
homi | num compositum ex corpore et anima est .' ita res) 


It is unnecessary to pursue the history of the Latin 
minuscule literary hand beyond the fifteenth century. 
Indeed, after the general adoption of printing, MS. 
books ceased to be produced for ordinary use, and the 
bock-band practicaily disappears in the several countries 
of Western Europe. Inthe comparatively small number 
of extant literary MSS. of a later date than the close of 
‘the century it is noticeable that a large proportion of 
them are written in the style of the book-hand of the 
Italian Renaissance—the style which eventually super- 
seded all others in the printing press. The scribes of 
these late examples only followed the taste of the day 
in preferring those clear and simple characters to the 
rough letters of the native hands. 


The English Book-hand in the Middle Ages. 


A handbook of Paleeograpby which is intended chiefly 
for the use of English students would be incomplete 


286 Paleography. 


without a special examination of the styles of writing 
employed by English scribes of the later middle ages 
when writing in English. 

We have already followed the course of English 
minuscule writing down to the period of the Norman 
Conquest. From that date, as we have seen, the foreign 
hand became the recognized literary hand and was 
employed for Latin literature; and the old Saxon hand was 
discarded. With the native English, however, it naturally 
continued in use; and eventually, after its cessation as a 
separate style of writing, a few special Saxon forms of 
letters, the g, the thorn (p and δ), and the w, still survived 
to later times. But it must be remembered that, as we 
have seen above, the influence of the foreign minuscule 
had already begun to tell upon the native hand even 
before the Conquest. In the eleventh century the spirit 
of the change which marks the general progress of the 
handwriting of Western Europe is also visible in the 
cast of Anglo-Saxon writing, and after the Conquest the 
assimilation of the native hand to the imported hand, 
which was soon practised in all parts of the country, 
naturally became more rapid. In some English MSS. 
of the twelfth century we still find a hand which, in a 
certain sense, we may call Anglo-Saxon, as distinguished 
from the ordinary Latin minuscule of the period; but, 
later, this distinction disappears, and the writing of 
English scribes for English books was practically nothing 
more than the ordinary writing of the day with an 
admixture of a few special English letters. On the other 
hand, it is observed that there was a tendency to prefer 
the use of charter-hand for English books, and in many 
MSS. of the late fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries 
we find a kind of writing, developing from that style, 
which may be called an English hand, in the sense of a 
hand employed in English MSS. 

To illustrate the handwriting of the twelfth century 
referred to above, we select a specimen from a copy of 
the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle written about the year 1121 
(Skeat, Twelve Facsimiles, pl. 3), in which the writing 
may still be called Saxon as regards the forms of letters 


Latin Paleography. 287 


employed. At the same time, it has the impress of the 
general character of twelfth century writing. 


ellen. fesson phihre dyden for Sep mynfenef holdfape. 
fyXSon seden hes wferpe-pepden heom wer δεταίππη 
fap Paadla pasepfume fa δεπείςα menn pardon fibt 
{ceoldon ofep cumen-fa prencipaa men fardpepodon 
ealle pamunekey--beleag pap-nan bican an munec he 


pelseharen leoppine lange-he [eer feoc mfa fecparman 


ANGLO-SAXON CHRONICLE.—ABOUT A.D. 1121. 


(tellen . segdon pet hi hit dyden for Ses mynstres holdscipe. | 
sy6don geden heom to scipe . ferden heom to elig betehtan | per 
paealla pa gersume pa denesce menn weendon pet hi | sceoldon 
ofercumen . pafrencisca men ba todrefodon |} ealle pa munekes . 
beleaf per nan butan an munec he | wes gehaten leofwine 
lange . he lxi seoc in pa secrwman) 


A rough but strong hand of the beginning of the 
thirteenth century, founded on the charter-hand of the 
time, is employed in a MS. of homilies in the Stowe 
collection of the British Museum (Pal. Soc. 11. pi. 94). 

nc (o-Grap- ae fy {ππ᾿| τὸ δον ὅτε τιι (cake bi 
“Sfe trreghe F go¥ine wubem argc vod, 

τή ysl dereeBe pithehe br (elie wabe ne yilled | 
μΑτὸ inohs or hf. ἅτε Se he can κε Sele Rime 
be af dey oF yerkef alps libchche okey hye he 


HOMILIES.—EARLY 131TH CENTURY. 


288 Paleography. 


(ne so 3eap . ne swa witti to donne Sat tu scalt don . [bute Su 
habbe] | Sese strenghe of god‘ ne miht tu non god don. Du 
[miht isien sum] | wel wis clerec . Se wisliche him selven naht 
ne wisseS [and pincp Sat he] | hafS inoh3 on his witte Se he 
cam. ne Sese streng{pe ne besek® nauht at] | gode for Si he 
belefS among San Se non god ne [cunnen. And hem] | he is 
ilich of werkes : alswa lihtliche oSerhwile he) 


And a very pretty and regular hand of the same period 
appears in a copy of “The Ancren Riwle,” or rule for 
anchoresses, in one of the Cottonian MSS. (Pal. Soc. 11. 
pl. 75), which may be compared with the Latin facsimile 
of that time given above (p. 273). 


ze zmare ho hive end Fat bing sbi fine 
Ammer allt a wleape reeburlyusen tiene bey ὲ 


a af wince dais wren monslad fo: bite faders” 
Dithge re ofalpiitkereay ~ he doer P νὴ Ὁ 
δε γαίλιιπε ἀνε γ᾽ oteatmd tenoblepneefasho yar peo 


THE ANCREN RIWLE.—EARLY 13TH CENTURY. 


(elle . per ho lai i prisun fowr pusent | 3er and mare ho and 
hire were baSe | and demde al hire ofsprung to leapen | al after 
hire . to deaS widuten ende | Binizge and rote of al pis ilke 
reow | Se! was a lute sihSe pus . Ofte as mon || [pa] triarches . 
and amuche butrh forb | earnd . and te king and his sune | and 
te burhmen isleine. pe wum | mon ilad forS. Hire fader and | 

hire breSre utlahes makede | se noble princes as ho weren . 


pus eo{de]) 


Following on the same lines as the Latin hands, the 
transition from the stiff characters of the thirteenth cen- 
tury to the more pliant style of the fourteenth century 
is seen in the “ Ayenbite of Inwyt,’’ or Remorse of Con- 
science, written in the year 1340 by Dan Michael, of 
Northgate, in Kent, an Augustinian monk of Canter- 
bury, in heavy minuscules of the charter-hand type 
(Pal. Soc. i. pl. 197). 


6»... 


Latin Palxography. 289 


Moke of open] to pezane “fifi pelpayke 
Zhue-inecuyehert 


AYENBITE OF 1NWyT.—A.D. 1340. 
(workes of wysdom to pe zone ‘ alsuo pe worke[s]— | wor guod- 
nesse is ase zayp sanyt Denys to lere— | pet him na3t ne costnep £ 
pet ne is na3t grat guo[dnesse]— | se zeve yefpes spret lim 
zelve ine oure hert{en|— | streames . pervore hi byep propre- 
liche ycleped ye{fpes]— | welle . hy byep pe streames . And pe 
oper scele is—) 

Next, as a contrast, we take a few lines from a 
W ycliffite Bible of the latter part of the fourteenth cen- 
tury, written in a square hand akin to the formal writing 
as seen in Latin liturgical MSS. (Pal. Soe. 1. pl. 75). 


forto baue witMnpig pe prittenpe 
of pe inonep art Fett bivopre oF 
fine -ye ivi mp oF martociiis/Pfore 
pete pms ton azem pcyanore.roF ye 
πη pe Htee Weelhd of ebrucs-And 
iTpele pms Chal make an centr of 
WWo2d/ 2 Copel 316 Bel tag Ὁ DIP to 
(for to nas Benes ὡς Ἧ reaps ar rata ren adar , 
pat is seid bi voyce of | sirie : pe first day of mardochius, per- 
fore | pese pingis don ajeinus nychanore . and of pe | tymes pe 


cytee weeldid of ebrues‘ and | I in pese pingis schal make an 
eende of | word, and sopeli 3if wel and as it acordip to) 


20) 


κι —_—_ «y 
“7 Wee ise oo | ἰώ 
τ = 


290 Paleography. 


Of the latter part of the fourteenth century, perhaps Ὶ 
about the year 1980, is a MS. of the Vision of Piers 
Plowman, in the Cottonian collection (Pal. Soc. 11. pl. 56), 
written in a set minuscule hand, partly formed upon the 
charter-hand of the time. This specimen may be com- 
pared with the facsimile from the chronicle of about 
the year 1388 above (p. 278). 


Wane me qyer(es 109 cleygiee bt cyipe Lire τῇ. 

Sdyal no (Wich) motong be ntenetefor me bird 
eyes Lue pe ploulnan «par enpungnes 
Bie cumnpnguse and alle = 

Sane lone and leirteeand los 


An no tyt to mabeotw pyrene pis for tvelbe 


PIERS PLOWMAN.—LATE 147TH CENTURY. 


(Have me excused quod clergie . bi crist but in [scole] | Schal 
no swich motyng be mevet . for me bu[t pere] | For peres love 
pe plouhman. pat enpun gned[e me ones] | Alle kyne cunnynges . 
and alle kyne craftes | Save love and leute . and lownesse of 
herte | And no tixt to take . to preve pis for trewe) 


And of about the same date, but written in a more 
careless style, and partaking rather of the character of 
the fifteenth ceutury, is the original MS. of Hereford’s 
Wycliffite translation of the Old Testament, at Oxford 


(Pal. Soc. ii. pl. 151), which is probably of the year 
1382. 


eran ὉΡ to lyenepse7t ho low goodlerte 
ANON ye DAG OF Voc remebnige not per 
Pertti gaa 
| 
Pits get o ῆη ANTICS them to ~ 


ΙΗ peaiig Sul oF ye log, foziwin Gedne” 
dude py plefide Oye losd-thrniigh Ie HCUTE™ 


WYCLIFEITE BIBLE.—A.D. 13882. 


Latin Paleography. 291 


(rereden up to hevene, and pe holi lord god herde | anoon pe 
vois of hem, he remembride not pe | synmnes of hem. ne 3af 
hem to per enemys‘ but | purgide hem in pe hond of isaie pe 
holi prophete | he prew doun pe tentis of assiries: and hem 
to | broside pe aungil of pe lord, forwhi ezechie | dide pat ple- 
side to pe jord . and strongli he wente) 


Early in the fifteenth century, in some of the more 
carefully written MSS., a hand of the charter-hand type, 
but cast in a regular and rather pointed form, is 
employed. Such is the writing of a copy of Occleve’s 
poem De Regimine Principum in the Harleian collection 
(Pal. Soc. i. pl. 57). 


Se in 


none 


OCCLEVE.— EARLY 15TH CENTURY. 


(Yit somme holden oppynyouz and sey | Pat none ymagesschuld 
imaked be | Pei erren foule and goon out of pe wey | Of trouth 
have pei scant sensibilite | Passe over pat now blessed trinite | 
Uppon my maistres soule mercy have | For him lady eke pi 
mercy I crave) 


And to illustrate two other varieties of the writing of 
this century, we select the following :— 

(i.) Some lines from a MS. of Bokenham’s [ives of 
Saints, written in the year 1447 in a formal hand (Pul. 
Soe. ii. pl. 58). 


292 Paleography. 


DE pe Coucne wepch te depyd lpn 

Sopfoundly pee greedy rev furl 

Wins no deck fFuund& m pat aiav 

Why erie Yo wee οἱ of whee dap 

Wirt; potty Aye θη coud ας 

Wyatt Myntd J GQvbe af yyre force ae! 

Wipel TEAS rplye gretts For 98 Coyd belo 

A byugys coughtpe the was ture ‘Sal 

LIVES OF SAINTS.—A.D. 1447. 

(Of pe sevene wych be clepyd lyberal | So profoundly pat greth 
ner smal | Was no clerk founde in pat cuntre | What evere he 
were or of what degre | But pat she wyth hym coude com- 


une | What shuld I speke of hyre fortune | Wych was ryht 
greth for as I seyd before | A kyngys doughtyr she was bore) 


(ii.) A passage from a MS. of Chaucer's “ Legend of 
Good Women” (Skeat, Twelve Facs., pl. 10), written in 
the pointed charter-hand of the middle of the century. 


BaSame 9 ΓΝ bs ‘ J a) 
| We Rance bees and tle 
ac ἊΝ γνοῦδα ἤβῶνε γον Segree 


ΣΕ omega gaa ον 


CHAUCER.—ILD5TH CENTURY. 


(Madame quod he, it is so long agoon | That I yow knewe, so 
charitable and trewe | That never yit, syn that the worlde was 
newe | To me, ne founde y better noon than yee | If that ye 
wolde, save my degree | I may ne wol nat, werne your requeste | 

Al lyeth in yow, dooth wyth hym, as yow liste | I al foryeve, 
withouten lenger space) 


CHAPTER XIX. 


LATIN PALHOGRAPHY—CONTINUED, 


Cursive Writing. 


Tue history of the Cursive Writing of Western Europe 
in the middle ages covers as wide a field as that of the 
literary hand. Practically, however, a full knowledge of 
the peculiarities of the different official hands of EKurope 
is not so necessary and is not so easily attainable as 
that of the various kinds of literary MSS. Each country 
has naturally guarded its official deeds with more or less 
jealousy, and such documents have therefore been less 
scattered than the contents of ordinary libraries. While, 
then, the student will find it of chief advantage to be 
familiar with the history of the book-hands of all coun- 
tries—as in his researches, which, in most instances, will 
be connected with literary matters, his labours will ΗΘ 
among MS. books—he will be generally content with a 
slighter acquaintance with the official handwritings of 
foreign countries, for the study of which the available 
material is limited. An intimate knowledge, however, 
of the official and legal hands of his own country is as 
necessary to him as the knowledge of the literary hands, 
if he wishes to be in a position to make use of the vast 
mass of historical information to be extracted from the 
official and private records which lie ready to hand in 
the national repositories. 

In this chapter, then, it is not practically necessary 
to examine the several forms of the cursive handwritings 


204 Paleography. 


of the continent, but we propose to deal more largely 
with the official and legal hands of our own country. 

In following the history of Roman cursive writing 
and of the national hands which sprang therefrom we 
traced the rise of the cursive writing of Western Europe 
in its three distinct forms of Lombardic, Visigothic, 
and Merovingian. We do not propose to follow the 
later cursive developments of these different forms; but 
there are two great series of official documents which, 
on account of their extent and political importance, it 
is necessary to examine a little more closely in regard 
to the styles of writing which were employed in their 
production. These are the documents which issued 
from the Papal Chancery and from the Imperial Chan- 
cery of the middle ages. 

In the Papal Chancery a form of writing was deve- 
loped which, from its likeness, in some respects, to the 
Lombardic cursive, has been named Inttera Beneventana. 
It was, of course, derived from the Roman chancery 
hand, but took a different line from that followed by 
the writing found in the cursive documents of Ravenna. 
The peculiar letters which belong to it are the a made 
almost like a Greek ὦ, the t in form of a loop, and the 
e in that of a circle with a knot at the top. These 
letters also take other forms when linked with other 
letters. Specimens of it are in existence dating from 
the end of the eighth century ; and facsimiles are to be 
found in various palzographical collections, and espe- 
cially in the great work of Pfluck-Harttung, Speci- 
mina selecta chartarum pontificum Romanorum, 1885- 
1887. The following facsimile is taken from a bull of 
Pope John VIII., of the year 876, written on a very 
large scale, which is here greatly reduced (Pf.-Hart., 
tab.5). The artificial nature of the writing can be detected 
in the construction of some of the letters. For example, 
tall strokes are not necessarily made by one sweep of 
the pen: it will be seen that that of the second d in 
the first line is distinctly formed in three pieces, the two 
upper ones being evidently added to the lowest one. 


Latin Palxography. 295 


UU ΟἹ owa dry a ae 


eg ee 


homey eeu Uy Ly 


STUD OUNT woreng ConC 


BULL OF JOHN VIII.—aA.D. 876. 


(Quando ad ea quae cal tholicorum |— | bus sunt monitis pro 
vocan|da] | —ente gratiam succenduntur— | et leto sunt animo 
conced{enda—) 


This hand continued to be practised down to the © 
beginning of the twelfth century, becoming in its later 
stages peculiarly angular and difficult to read. We give 
a facsimile of this late style from a bull of Urban IL1., of 
the year 1098 (Pf.-Hart., tab. 47). 


BULL OF URBAN II.—A.D. 1098, 


([emenda]verit . potestatis honorisqve sui dignita[te]— | 
corpore ac sanguine dei et demini redemptoris— | eidein loco 
lusta servantibus sit pax— | premia eterne pacis inveniant) 


The peculiar forms which the long rand the t and 


other letters assume in combination will be specially. 


noticed. 


This kind of writing, however, did not remain supreme 


throughout the period of its existence noted above. In 
the course of the eleventh century the writing of the 
Imperial Chancery became the ordinary hand for papal 
documents also. This hand was at that period, as we 
shall presently see, the ordinary minuscule, derived from 
the Caroline minuscule, mixed, however, for some time 
with older forms. In the twelfth and thirteenth cen- 
turies, and subsequently during the later middle ages, 
the papal hand follows the general lines of the develop- 
ment of the established minuscule, cast, it must be remem- 
bered, in the mould of the symmetrical Italian style. 

A very peculiar and intricate style adopted at a late 


Latin Paleography. 297 


period for papal documents may here be just mentioned. 
This is the so-called Littera Sancti Petri or Scrittura 
bollatica, a character which appears to have been in- 
vented for the purpose of baffling the uninitiated. It 
first appeared in the reign of Clement VIII, a.p. 1592— 
1605, and was only abolished in our own time, in 1879.1 
As the special form of writing developed in the Papal 
Chancery is to be traced back to the Roman cursive as 
practised in Italy, so the writing of the Imperial Chan- 
cery is derived from the same cursive, as practised in 
France and represented by the facsimile of the Merovin- 
gian hand of the year 695 given above (p. 227). 
Facsimiles of the early Imperial Chancery writing are 
to be found scattered in various works; but a complete 
course may be best studied in Letronne’s Viplomata, in 
Sickel’s Schrifttafeln aus dem Nachlasse von U. F. von 
Kopp (1870), and especially in the recent work of von 
Sybel and Sickel, Kaiserurkunden in Abbildungen (1880, 
etc.). In the earliest documents, commencing in the 


1 A very interesting paper, giving much information with 
regard to papal documerts, in a condensed form, was contributed 
to the Revue des Questions Historiques, tom. xxxix., 1886, with 
the title Les Eléments de la Diplomatique Pontificale, by Count 
de Mas Latrie. In the Bibliotheque de V’Ecole des Chartes, 
series 4, tome iv. (1858), Monsieur Delisle has also written a 
valuable paper, Wémoire sur les Actes d’Innocent III.,in which 
some points of paleographical interest are brought out. In the 
thirteenth century, the leaden papal seal (δια) was attached by 
silken threads (red and yellow) to a bull which conferred or con- 
firmed rights and was of a permanent nature; it was attached by 
a hempen string to a bull which conveyed orders and was of a 
temporary nature. Certain distinctive marks in the text of the 
documents gave at a glance the clue to their character. In 
(1) silken bulls, the intial letter of the pope’s name was drawn in 
open work, in (2) hempen bulls it was solid; in (1) the pope’s 
name was written in elongated letters, in (2) in ordinary letters ; 
in (1) a large majuscule letter began the word following the 
words servus servorum Dei, in (2) the letter was an ordinary . 
majuscule; in (1) the mark of contraction was looped, in (2) it 
was straight; in (1) the letters ct and st occurring in the middle 
of words, as dictus, justus, were separated by a space and con- 
nected by a link above, as dic” tus, jus"tus, in (2) they were written 
in the ordinary way. 


298 Paleography. 


seventh century and continuing to the middle of the 
eighth century, the character is large, and in the earlier 
part of this period is not so intricate as afterwards. The 
writing then grows into a more regular form. The fol- 
lowing specimen represents the style of the close of the 
eighth century, as found in a document of Charlemagne 
of the year 797 (Facs. Ecole des Chartes). 


sh NOW 
wn} WY bin gab ὦ tn \ j ὧν By 
Sin afeps price banat bh, than m 
wr ro ἽΝ preys Ay fuse uote fy 


DEED OF CHAKLEMAGNE.—A.D. 797, 


(adscribitur quod pro contemplatione servitii | [filjius noster 
cum aliquibus dei infidelibus ac nostris | —ex ipsis in nostra 
praesentia convicti et secundum | —cui et nos omnes res pro- 
prietatis suae 1uxta eius) 


In the ninth century a small hand of increasing regu- 
larity and gradually falling into the lines of the Caroline 
minuscule is established; but while the influence of the 
reformed hand is quite evident, old forms of letters are 
retained for some time, as might be expected in a style 
of writing which would, in the nature of things, cling to 
old traditions more closely than would that of the 


γ᾿ 
ν᾿ 
s 


Latin Paleography. 299 


literary schools. And so it progresses, affected by the 
changes which are seen at work in the literary hands, 
but still continuing to maintain its own individuality as 
a cursive form of writing. As an illustration of a middle 
period, we select a few lines from a deed of the Emperor 
Henry L., written in the year 992 (Kaiserurkund., tab. 22). 


| hel 


a nine ἀξ Π 
wipe LA. ee calif orf 


DEED OF THE EMPEROR HENRY.—A.D. 9382. 


(potestatis esse videbatwr . cum curtililws . eccles‘a— | in 
comitatibys meginuuarchi et sigifridi . loc{a]— | nuncupata . 


cum curtilibws . aecclesiis . ceteris) 


In this writing of the Imperial Chancery, as indeed in 
all other cursive styles derived from the Roman cursive, 
the exaggeration of the heads and tails of letters is a 
marked feature. And this exaggeration continued in- 
herent in this hand and was carried over into the 


200 Paleography. 


national official hands of France and Germany and Italy, 
which are but later developments of it. In England we 
see the influence of the hand of the Imperial Chancery 
in the official hand which the Normans brought with 
them and established in the country. 

Each of the nations, then, of Western Europe de- 
veloped its own style of official and legal writing, and in 
each country that writing ran its own course, becoming 
in process of time more and more individualized and 
distinct in its national characteristics. But at the same 
time, as we have seen in the case of the literary 
hand, it was subject to the general law of change; 
in each country it passed through the periods of 
the large bold style of the eleventh and twelfth cen- 
turies, the exact style of the thirteenth, the declining 
style of the fourteenth, and the angular style and 
decadence of the fifteenth century. With its later career 
we have not to do, except to note that certain forms 
of it still linger in law documents, as for example in 
the engrossing of modern English deeds; and that 
every ordinary current hand of modern Hurope might 
have been as directly descended from the old legal 
cursive hand as the modern German is. What saved 
Kurope from this diversity of current handwriting was 
the welcome which was given to the beautiful Italian 
cursive hand of the Renaissance, a form of writing which 
stood in the same relation to the book-hand of the 
Renaissance as the modern printer’s Italics (the name 
preserving the memory of their origin) do to his ordinary 
Roman type. As the Italian book-hand of the Renaissance 
was not infrequently adopted at the end of the fifteenth 
and beginning of the sixteenth centuries as a style of 
writing for the production of select MSS. in England 
and France and other countries beyond the borders of 
Italy, so the Italian cursive hand at once came into 
favour as an elegant and simple style for ordinary use. 
In the sixteenth century and even later an educated 
Englishman could write two styles of current writing, 
his own native hand lineally descended from the charter- 
hand, and the new Italian hand; just as a German 


, 
% 
P 
z 


x 


Latin Paleography. 301 


scholar of the present day can write the native German 
and the Italian hands. And in concluding these remarks 
it is worth noting that the introduction and wide 
acceptance of the Italian hand has constituted a new 
starting-point for the history of modern cursive writing 
in Western Europe. As the Roman cursive was adopted 
and gradually became nationalized in different forms in 
different countries ; and, again, as the reformed minus- 
cule writing of Charlemagne’s reign was taken as a fresh 
basis, and in its turn gradually received the stamp of the 
several national characteristics of the countries where it 
was adopted; so the Italian hand of the Renaissance has 
taken the impress of those same characteristics, and 
specimens are easily distinguished, whether written by 
an Englishman or a German, by a Frenchman or an 
Italian or a Spaniard, as the case may be. 


English Charter-hand. 


As already stated, the handwriting «employed in 
Evgland for official and legal documents after the 
Norman Conquest was the foreign hand introduced by 
the conquerors, and generally of the cursive type. An 
exception might be found in the few charters issued 
by William the Conqueror in the language of the 
people, which presumably were written by English 
scribes and are in the native hand. But these docu- 
ments are so few that they are hardly to be considered 
as affecting the principle of the introduction of a new 
order of things in the issue of official and legal 
instruments. 

But while we find it convenient to treat the cursive 
or charter-hand as a separate branch of medieval 
English writing apart from the literary or book-hand, 
it must not be forgotten that both are derived from 
the same stock, that each influences the other and 
occasionally crosses its path (we have already seen how 
often the cursive hand was employed in a more or less 
modified form for literary purpuses), and that the same 


202 . Palxography. 


laws of progress and change act contemporaneously 
upon both the one and the other. We shall accordingly 
have to note the same course of development and 
decadence in the cursive hand as we have followed in the 
set literary hand. 

- The official hand of the first hundred years succeeding 
the Conquest does not very materially alter. In the few 
surviving charters of the early kings of the Norman line 
it appears in a rough and angular character with the 
exaggeration of long limbs which we have noticed in the 
earlier hands derived from the Roman cursive. In such 
documents as the Pipe Rolls the writing is more careful 
and formal; in the great volume of Domesday, while it 
still retains the official cast, it has a good deal of the 
literary style of lettering, perhaps from the fact of the 
work being drawn up in form of a book. The character 
into which it soon settled for royal charters may be 
exemplified by the following specimen drawn from a 
grant of Henry 11. to Bromfield Priory in the year 1155 
(Pal. Soc. it. pl. 41). 


C2 US Atal Cf AM Coe. 
ὁ ΡΣ, 4. Ae a tre Den 
ε΄ ¢ τῶι Cont 
suientit ff he No wp Se 10¢° 


CHARTER OF HENRY II.-—A.D. 1155. 


(Comes Andegavie . Archiepiscopis . Ep?scopis . Abbattbus . 
Comitibus . | —suis totiws Anglie f Salwtem . Sciatis me pro | 
—dedisse . et Carta mea Confirmasse . Ecclesiam | —[per]ti- 
nentilis suis . Priori . et Monachis ibidem deo) 


Latin Paleography. 303 


In this class of deeds the profuse employment of large 
letters is very striking; and it should be noticed that 
the long strokes are drawn out into fine hair-lines, and, 
as is seen in one or two instances in the facsimile, are 
occasionally provided with an ornamental spur near the 
top of the stem, which thus has the appearance of being 
cloven. 

In the next example of the official hand, from the 
charter of King John to the borough of Wilton, of the 
year 1204 (Pal. Soc. i. pl. 214), the writing is a little 
more regular and cloven stems are more frequent. 


αἱ, UG. sete “AC, 
wl? τ ἀν θεοῦ δεῖν 
Gel Cea, pd θὰ gerbe αν 


CHARTER OF KING JOHN.—A.D. 1204. 


(forisfacturam . sicut carte Regis . Henrie? . proavi nostr[i}— | 

testantur . Testibus . Gileberto filio Petri Comitis Essexve , 
Ricardo Co[{mite]— | Nievilla . Roberto de veteri ponte . 
Petro de Stoka— | Cicestrensis Electi . Apud Oxonzam . xxi. 
die Aprilzs) 


A style of the charter-hand very common at the end 
of the twelfth and beginning of the thirteenth century— 
rather squarer in its forms of Jetters and less exaggerated 
than the official hand of the period—is shown in the 
following facsimile. It is taken from a deed of the Hos- 
pital of St. John of Jerusalem, written at Ossington in 
Nottinghamshire in the year 1206 (Pal. Soc.1i. pl. 117). 


304 Palxography. 


ovtt fre Oni? ford a furrtis O8 Coo fed Ra 
ἘΝ gofimdn Yen affenfiz fie 
Cais confirma Robo fits Juonrste ichamy 
Grofit quesuett juonrys parnf erin Gidsar iGridp 
Sup Ben οὐ το νοι Αἴτνη orice doWirmobe 
Pofado feeb W deri Gara te fup Bagenegam 


CUARTER OF THE HOSPITALLERS.—A.D. 1206, 


(Notum sit Omnibus presentibus δέ futuris Quod Ego frater 
Rober[ tus |— | [Hospi]tal¢s Ierosolymitanit in Anglia de com- 
muni assensu et voluntate fratrwm— | Carta confirmavimus 
Roberto filio Ivonis de Wicham et— | Croftum que fuerunt 
Ivonis patris eivs in Wicham . ef unam p[ortionam|— | super 
Benecroftewelle . δέ aliam portionem terre ad Wirmode— | Bosci 
ad frithwude . e¢ unam Gairam terre super Hagenegate) 


Except for its being rather looser in the formation of 
its letters and more subject to flourishes, there is no 
great difference between this writing and the ordinary 
book-hand of the period; and it is to be observed that 
not infrequently the style of writing employed in 
monastic charters is rather of the literary than of the 
legal type, that is, it is more set than cursive. 

This preference of the more exact style of writing is 
conspicuous in many of the charters of the thirteenth 
century—the period when, as we have seen above, a 
more minute character was practised, contrasting strongly 
with the bold writing of the preceding century. Under 
this restrictive influence, a highly decorative class of 
documents was produced, in which the scribe exercised 
with effect his powers of penmanship in fanciful orna- 
mentation of the capitals and the stems of tall letters. 
A. specimen of this style is given from a lease of land to 


Abingdon Abbey, of the year 1230 (Pal. Soc. 11. pl. 99). 


Latin Paleography. 305 


“εἰς Spee Sef τς 


ay 


LEASE TO ABINGDON ABBEY.—aA.D. 1230. 


[Estov]Jerium suum usque ad terminum dictorum decem anno- 
rum. Si vero dicta Iuliana infra dictos dec[em]|— | et cum 
eorum pertinentiis usque ad terminum dictorwm decem annorum 
tenebunt . faciendo inde tantum for[insecum | — | [con |ven- 
tionem firmiter e¢ sine dolo esse tenendam‘ dictws Abbas et 
Conventus per manum Ro{geri|— | [maio]rem huivs conven- 
tionis traditéonis et dimisszonis securitatem‘! presens scriptum 
in mo[dum]— | Hiis testibvs. Henrico de Tracy. Ricardo 
Decano de Dumbeltuna. Willelmo de Dic/lesduna]— | Elia 
de Dumbeltona Rogero Nepote. Thoma de Dreitona. Rogero 
Marescallo.) 


Nothing can be prettier, as specimens of calligraphy, 
than these delicately written charters of the thirteenth 
century, which, moreover, are scarcely ever broader than 
the hand, and in their little compass present so many 
pleasing varieties of the penman’s handiwork. 

But the true cursive hand was more generally em- 
ployed in the majority of legal and official deeds of 
the period. In the course of the reign of Henry III., 
while the letters generally retain the stiffness character- 
istic of writing of the thirteenth century, a certain 
amount of looping of the tall stems is gradually estab- 
lished—an advance upon the earlier practice of notching 

21 


306 Palexography. 


or cleaving the tops, as noticed above. The following 
specimen is taken from a charter of Bitlesden Abbey. of 
the year 1251 (Pal. Soe. 11. pl. 118). 


PLalPre ansferd Brie Vuund LPO BELEK Gym 

ὅτ Tin ohne Sens TO wateam GO comallecern nec 
οοηλδῇς ve monaliro Be; comedian ‘lac Roma 
ib; Ahavonds Autre Xi cactn amb; amag afb, em 
φυνδις B Tales απ & menadng Se Dime vas 
sig οαβξιζτος Downy Ayusug tein freon Ὁ woe 


CHARTER OF BITLESDEN ABBEY.—A.D. 1251. 


(Walterus miseractone divina Norwicens?s Ecclesie minister 
hum[ilis]|— | —patris domini Iohannis Regis non viciatam 
non cancellatam nec in— | —Monachis et monasterio de Bittles- 
dena concessam in hae forma— | —[Com|itibus . Baronibus 
Iusticiariis . Vicecomitibus . omnibus amicis et fidelibus sui[s] 
— | —Ernoldus de Bosco fecit deo δέ monachis de ordine Cis- 
tercie[nsi]|— | —[or]dinis Cisterciensés . δὲ de tribws carucatis 
terre in syresham que vocatur) 


At this period, under a more extended system of link- 
ing the letters together and the consequent establishment 
of a really current hand, many of the older forms of 
letters become modified. The looping of tall letters has 
already been referred to. The top stroke of the letter 
a is gradually more bent over, and already in several 
instances touches the lower bow and forms a closed loop ; 
i, m, ἢ, and ἃ, when two or more come together in a 
word, are composed of uniform strokes ; and, above all, 
the small round s becomes more frequent, and is finished 
off in a closed loop below. This form of the latter letter, 
as we shall see, afterwards became exaggerated, the 
loop growing to a disproportionate size. 

The official hand of the reign of Edward I., as seen in 


Latin Palxography. 307 
his charters, is in a regular and rather broad style, 
showing a further development in the open order of the 
letters, and the tendency to roundness characteristic of 
the fourteenth century. 


se πος hh eee 
um m nobs etna = ahs Nan < Gontion 
m pum Coach: corrementee 
tip ann Dae Eno cpio 


CHARTER OF EDWARD I.—A.D. 1303. 


(Aquitanie Omnibus ad quos presentes littere pervenerint | — 
[fijdelis nosfri Henrici de Lacy Comitis Lincolnze concessi- 
mus | —{quant]|um in nobis est dilectis nobis in Christo Abbati 
et Conven(tui] | —[cu]m pertinentiis in Mora que vocatur 
Inkelesmore continentem | —longitudine per medium More 
illius ab uno capite) 


In the specimen here given from a charter of the year 
1303 (Pal. Soc. i. pl. 254),a further development is to be 
noticed in the looped a and s referred to under the last 
facsimile. Here also is to be seen a new change in the 
formation of the tall letters: the spur or flourish on the 
left side at the top of the stem is in some instances dis- 
pensed with (6... in Ὁ in the second nobis and Abbati, in 
line 3), leaving the letter provided with a simple curve 
or loop on the right instead of a cloven top. 

Further progress in these particulars is seen in the 
official hand of the period of Edward 11., as exemplified 
by the following specimen from a writ of Privy Seal of 
the year 1310 (Faces. of National MSS., no. 27). 


τῷ 


Paleography. 


OD δας ΡΝ 
YP! ar a. fo 


Ω νά Arecyes 


ce S mond Gan) enamps 
x Bate ere eas ae ee 


WRIT OF PRIVY SEAL.—A.D. 1810. 


(Edward par la grace de dieu/ Roi Dengle[ terre] — | monsfire] 
Aymer de Valence Counte de Penbroke ‘— | la ville seint Johan 
de Perche/ e¢ noz autres— | Escoce { nous ont fait saver que noz 
enemys — | iour en autre / Chasteux / villes / δέ terres) 


But, on the other hand, an equal rate of development 
of the new forms is not to be found contemporaneously 
in all documents. Charters written in the king’s courts 
would be the work of the more expert scribes trained in 
the newest style ; elsewhere the changes need not be so 
regular or so rapid. In a grant from the Bishop of 

Norwich to Flixton Priory, of the year 1321 (Pal. Soc. 


i. pl. 254), the old form of tall letters with cloven tops 18 
still followed. 


GRANT OF THE BISHOP OF NORWICH.—A.D. 1821. 


Latin Paleography. 309 


(Iohannes permissione divina Norwycensis Epzscopus ; volu[n- 
tate]|— | —[Trin jitatis Norwycensis necnon de licencia speciali 
domzni nostri— | —{clarta nostra , confirmavimws ; pro nobis et 
successoribus nost[ris]|— | —[Bl]ungeye/ac Religiosis Muliri- 
bus // Emme Priorisse— | —iuxta Bungeye nostre Dyoceseos‘ 
que ad nos εἰ Ep{iscopatum]— | —[eius}dem loci pertinebat 
temporibus preteritis . Habend[ um }) 


But there are late forms among the letters, which, 
besides the general character of the writing, mark the 
document as one of the fourteenth century. 

The progress made in the latter part of the century is 
very marked. Towards its close the letters begin to 
take angular forms, without, however, all at once assum- 
ing the universal angularity which belongs to the 
fifteenth century. The foliowing is a specimen of a 
rather rough style of the period, from a licence granted 
by Croyland Abbey in the year 1392 (Pal. Soc. 1. 


pl. 257). 
teva ἢ G8 pedantic 


7 Om oer: 
& licen 'nobice on 

Sper de re al τ 
τ δεν ἐγάβρητεα & eondin ACWAS TOYO. 
uinacdin & onion σὔιατῆνν γέϑϑυονισ- om 


DEED OF CROYLAND ΑΒΒΕΥ.---Α.Ὁ. 1392. 


([Conven]|twus Omnibus ad quos presentes littere pervenerint | © 


—et licenciam dedisse . pro nobis et successoribus | —[{ Wil- 
lel}mo Spenser et Iohanni Waldegrave de | —gardina . Sexa- 
ginta δὲ unam acras terre | —[de|nariatam e¢ unam oblatam 


redditus cum) 


310 Paleography. ἶ 


In this hand will be remarked the exaggerated loop 
of the round s, and the reversed or o-shaped e. The ° 
forms of these and of other letters may be compared 
with those of the facsimile of the set book-hand from the 
chronicle of 1388 (p. 278 above). 

Asa specimen of carefully written charter-hand of the 
last year of the fourteenth century, we may select a 
few lines from an official document of Henry IV., of the 
year 1400 (Pal. Soe. ii. pl. 160). 


SIE Sey Mal or compat iies 

St δὰ δ aes ᾷ aS i toma fs | 
τς ἐν Re 4.5 yemeuryoer on Grghige Moeges 
pry fee a aad eve five Tan on rye i ow f” | 
δ νὰ Bac payee ὀρλίνϑορονθεο meres poe 
νι rend sieoe οϑίομξονες mS [RARE / 


LETTERS OF HENRY Iv.—A.D. 1400. 


(quod dominus Ricardus nuper Rex Anglie secundus post con- 
questum apud | —de sa grace especiale par assent δέ accord de 
toutz seignurs espiri{tuelx] | —[demurJantz en Irland qils 
reviendront en Engleterre illoeqes | —[nientc]ontresteant le- 
statut ent fait lan du regne nostre dit seignur | —vestris in hac 
parte specialiter providere Suscepimus e¢ ponimus | —{moran]do 
in protecciunem tuicionem et defensiones nostras speczales) 


By this time the letters have become pointed and 
angular ; and through the course of the fifteenth century 
this is the’r general character, with an ever-increasing 
tendency to careless formation. The following is a 
specimen of an ordinary rough hand of the reign of 
Henry V., from an official deed relating to a pledge of 
crown plate, of the year 1415 (Pal. Soc. 1. pl. 258). 


Ε΄. 


Latin Paleography. 311 


fajdom de (ee eres tw a Gb 

Pht eB? αὐ paytres Souths Pannooy 

img Gey δ Cy ntemudorn Our 96; Rss ak 

ene ap Fos mame Be {ypfyoy Seng 

for «εν | Suh (aaa po Sh 
PLEDGE OF PLATE.—A.D. 1415, 


(Ceste endenture fait parentre Richard Cou[rtenay|— | 
Gardein de ses ioialx dune part et Robert— | present viage as 
parties doultre la meer— | par vertu δέ commaundement dez 
lettres pat{entes]|— | signe par lez mains de Tresorer den- 
gleterre— | poisant ensemble 11] unces i quarterone pris del) 


Although, however, the letters are roughly formed, 
there is still a certain simplicity in the general character 
of the writing, which later in the century gives place to 
more elaborate flourishes and to more fanciful shaping 
of the letters. 

To illustrate the charter-hand of the middle and latter 
part of the century, we must be content to select the 
two following specimens, which may serve to give some 
indication of its later development ; but a really adequate 
idea of the changes effected in the course of the fifteenth 
century can only be gained by examination of a series of 
documents. 

The first is taken from a lease, in English, of the year 
1457, written at Canterbury (Pal. Soc. 1. pl. 260). The | 
old tradition of dotting the y here shows itself in the 
careless little curved stroke which flies above the line 
and is quite separated from the letter to which it belongs. 
In the word Payinge in the second line this stroke might 
at first sight be taken to mark the 1. 


312 Paleography. 

Aimmmaddon of ome Bays woge com ge : 

S I filly ὦ Do τὸς ἀσον πο = 

SnecopPrws om Gad Re pou ἧς θα OR AS το ; 
morgh Shy mge by f % ὃ craino ails 


ths. SoD tise 


vo. beats’ rein of Be 


LEASE.—A.D, 1457. 


(of annunciacioun of oure lady next comynge aftir— | and 
fully to be endid Payinge yerely the seid Ali{sandre|— | Suc- 
cessours in hand . halfe yere afore . that is to— | next suyinge 
ΧΧΙΙ]. 5. 111] ἃ, by evene porciouns The— | and staves . and 
Seyleclothes duringe the seid terme—-|as of yrounwerke 
Tymberwerke . and helyng of the) 


The second, in a much more pointed hand, is from a 
charter of John de Vere, Harl of Oxfdrd, to Notley 
Abbey, granted in 1485 (Pal. Soc, i. pl. 260). 


{{ΞπΞ τ 


ἅ 
ἥδ ετῆς 


GRANT TO NOLLEY ABBEY.—A.D. 1485. 


(predictam . prefato Abbati et Conventui durante min[ori]— | 
nulla proficua terrarum nec maritagiwm eiusdem perce- 


perunt— | dedi εὐ concessi ac do et concedo prefato Petro 
Abbfati] — | redditwwm  reversionum ef serviciorum . ac 
aliorwm possessionu[ m |— | nuper de Stoke Lysle in Cometatu 
Oxondenst . qui de me— | dicti Willedmi . ef racione minoris — 


etatis . Iohannis) 


Latin Palxography. 313 


Τὸ is not the design of this work to pursue the history 
of Latin Paleeography beyond the end of the fifteenth 
century ; and the examination of the literary hand was 
accordingly brought to a close when it had reached that 
limit. With regard, however, to the cursive form of 
writing which has just been passed in review and which 
was not superseded by the printing press, as was the 
case with the set literary style, it will not be out of place 
to lay before the reader a few specimens of later 
varieties, among which some were elaborated in certain 
of the law courts aud became the styles peculiar to 
those courts. 

The ordinary class of charter or cursive hand in the 
reign of Henry VIII. was a rather coarse development 
of the style of the fifteenth century. The following 
specimen, taken from an ordinary conveyance of the year 
1530 (Brit. Mus., Add. Ch. 24,843), may suffice as an 


illustration. 


DEED.—A.D. 1530. 


(Sond ac Georgio Taylour ommia illa terras te[{nementa|— | 
—|ilacentia et existentia in Wescote in parochia de Dorkyng . 
— | —[conclessione et feoffamento Roberti Borne de Dork y[ng | 
— | —Maydeman aliam vero medietatem inde nuper— | —[ap- 
parents ac filii et heredis Alicie nuper uxoris mee ia[m]— | — 
predicta terras et tenementa redditus et servicia cum suis per- 
t| inentiis]) 


314 Palzxography. 


In most of the English cursive handwriting of the 
first half of the sixteenth century a certain heaviness of 
style was the fashion ; but afterwards this gave place to 
a lighter and more elegant character, which was fully 
established by the reign of Elzabeth, and was most 
commonly used from that time onwards far into the 
seventeenth century, and then gradually toned down 
into a form modified by the Italian letters of the ordi- 
nary current hand of the day. The following specimen 
is taken from a deed of the year 1594 (Brit. Mus., 
Add, Ch. 24,798). 


ἡ rp te’ 
Gp ISS , ἐν 


DEED.—aA.D. 1594. 


(To be holden of the Cheefe lorde or lordes— | Administra- 


tours and for every of them, Doth— | att thensealinge 
and deliverye of these presentes is— | all and singwler 
thappurtenawnces in Fee simple w[ithout|— | and every parte 
thereof to the saide Thomas Tan|ner]— | att all convenient 


tyme or tymes within the—) 


In this hand we hav: a good fluent style to which 
none of the cursive writing of previous centuries had 
attained in England. In fact the close of the sixteenth 
century may be referred to as the epoch of the rise of 
the modern current hand, as distinguished from the 
more slowly written and more disjointed cursive writing 
of the middle ages. 

Lastly, in taking leave of this ordinary stvle, we 
select a specimen of a form which it assumed early in 


; ὰ Latin Palxography. 315 


the seventeenth century, from a deed of the year 1612 
(Brit. Mus., Add. Ch. 24,000), 


| pov ὃ AWD Part 
: Bin fe Pas eas Ana Gf 


τεῶ “ ton SZAFOW ὁ Burn 
ΒΡ 


ton mod. kid Cy} ἐθέα Οἷς wtf d 

time ows ἢ ie! ( 

(nage οὐ Momez Gorefé o οἱ“ 26 u €es 
DEED.—A.D. 1612. 


(powndes of good and lawfull mony— | himselfe fully satis- 
fied, And therof— | And in consideracéon of twoe hun’ dred | 
— | confirmed, and by thease presentes d[{oth]— | [All that 
the Mannor of Butlers s[cituate]|— | [M]esuage or Mannor 
howse of Butle[rs]) 


Now to turn to the peculiar official legal hands 
referred to above. From the earliest times succeeding 
the Norman Conquest there were, as we have seen, cer- 
tain styles followed, though not uniformly, for particular 
official documents; and a series of exampies of these 
during the several reigns may be found in the public 
records. But it was not until the sixteenth century 
that a perfected system of par ‘ticular styles for certain 
courts was finally established. 

Without regarding the class to tick has been given 
the name of “secretary,” and which is in fact the hand 
which has been illustrated by the two preceding fac- 
similes, there are two main styles which practically cover 
the varieties enumerated in the special works on the 
subject, viz., the Chancery hand and the Court hand. 
The former was used for records under the great seal ; 
the latter was employed in the courts of King’s Bench 


1 Wright, Court Hand Restored, cd, Martin, 1879, p. xii. 


316 Palxography. 


and Common Pleas, for fines and recoveries, placita, 
etc. These two kinds of writing do not vary very 
materially ; both may be described as fanciful render- 
ings of the ordinary law hand. The Chancery hand, 
of the pattern found in its developed form in the six- 
teenth century, appears in an incipient stage in the 
latter part of the fourteenth century, and is therefore of 
an earlier origin than the Court hand, which indeed is 
rather a modification of the Chancery hand itself. It 
will be enough to select one or two examples of each 
style in order to give a general idea of their character. 

First we take a few lines from an exemplification of a 
Chancery decree of the year 1539 (Brit. Mus., Add. Ch. 
26,969) in illustration of the Chancery hand of the reign 
of Henry VIII. 


qetten rome Ne thy 27 a Seqyctiits | 
τῶν αὐ bys’ Auivo sgt Hie Pegs 
ὃ 
ag 


ALCO 


Ca v 
ue f . 
Yugloud? 2tebane ai “διὴ «(Ὁ sone 


auntie, f Cercefiey “ he Sow gate, aug. 


EXEMPLIFICALION.—A.D. 1039. 


(revencionum Corone nostre quoddam decretum— | —xxiiij 
die Novembris Anno regni domzni Regi[s]— | —[reve]ncionum 
Corone sue Et protulit ibédem quand{[am]— | —[ver|ba This 
Indenture made the— | —the grace of god of Englond and 
Fraunce— | —Englond Betwene Raf Burell doctor in— | — 
[C]ountie of Leicester of the oon partie and) 


Next, an example is taken from a grant of wardship 
and marriage of the year 1618, which illustrates the 
form which the hand had assuned in the reign of 


{ Siw ξὰ merit Bin quant 
“ὦ Ose Fae ase 
of god Ν ξιφίοιθο nine 


δ. 


Latin Palxography. 21} 


James I. (Brit. Mus., Add. Ch. 28,271), a form 
altogether of the modern type which continued in 
practice to quite a recent date. 


quow(q CAS CU ἃ ἐμά Ge ynek cycrutoz 
“(be dee τ ἀθίας compoto ἄξᾳ 


(δι eget Seal Geozesus Sesyuck tute 
ant ut Gtpuct egccuto Sue? rt{lagur SM 
Bes erat cut “ag S50 Senet bs 


‘Blewtca Orble conceit Ὁ Paytyc7 ζῶν. 


GRANT OF WARDSHIP.—a.D. 1618. 


(quousque eadem Maria Gwynet executor— | —vel habuerint 
Et hoe absyue compoto seu aliq/uo|— | —contingat predictum 
Georgium Gwynet ante[quam]— | —-Maria Gwynet executores 
sive assignatz sui— | heredzbuws masculis eiusdem Georgii 
Gwynet tu[nc]|— | —presentes damws et concedimus prefate 
Marie Gwy[net]) 


In these two examples of the Chancery hard it will 
be seen that the chief characteristic is a fanciful angular 
and upright treatment of the letters without deviating 
from the setting of ordinary writing. 

With the Court hand the treatment is different. 
While the shapes of the letters (with the exception of 
e, which in this style is in the circular form) are prac- 
tically the same as in the Chancery hand, the cast of 
the writing is quite altered by lateral compression, 
which cramps and narrows the letters in an exaggerated — 
manner. 

Our first example of the Court hand is of Henry VIII.’s 
reign, and is taken from a final concord, or foot of a 


fine, of the year 1530 (Brit. Mus., Add. Ch. 23,539). 


218 Palzxography. 


Boe pei pea ῷ 


ἀνθ νὶ sa μρχωφον CHA 
ba sna ἮΝ r 


i 


oersenia Μ᾿ set yore 


FINAL CONCORD.—aA.D. 1530. 


(Hee est finalis concordia facta in Curia domini Regis— 
domini Hibernde a conquestu vicesimo primo coram Robert[o] 
— | Inter AntoniumWyngfeld Militem Iohannem Audele[y |— | 
et Reginaldum Dygby Armigerum deforcéentes de Manerilo] 
— | predictum Manerium cum pertinentiis esse Ius  ipsius 
Humfridi et) 


Next we select a passage from an exemplification of 
a plea of Elizabeth’s reign, dated in the year 1578 (Brit. 
Mus., Add. Ch. 25,968). 


EXEMPLITICATION.—a.D. 1578. 


Ἐς νας σα; 


Latin Paleography. 319 


(facit Ideo consideralum est quod predictus Tonannes Collyn 
recuperet | —[misericordi]a et cetera Et super hoe predictus 


Tohannes Collyn petit breve | —[Trinit]atis in tres septimanas 
et cetera Ad quem diem hic | —[u]ltimo preterito habere fecit 
prefato Iohanni Collyn | —[presenc]ium duximus exemplifi- 


canda In cuius rei testimonium) 


There is practically no great difference in style between 
these two specimens. The latter is perhaps to some ex- 
tent the better hand and shows a very slight advance 
on the other; but the forms of the letters are so stereo- 
typed in this class of writing that the space of nearly 
half a century which lies between the two documents 
has impressed but little trace of change on the later 
one. 

Lastly, to show further how very gradual was the 
alteration wrought by time in the character of the Court 
hand, an example is taken from a final concord of the 
reign of Charles II., bearing the date of 1675 (Brit. 
Mus., Add. Ch. 25 871), nearly a century and a half after 
the as of the final concord above, of the time of 
Henry VIII., with which it is to be compared. 


" Wout θυ φ bk 


nie Shi 


ee 


FINAL CONCORD.—A.D. 1673. 


(Hee est finalis Concordia facta in Curia domini— | defensoris 
et cetera a Conquestu vicesimo quinto Cor[am]— | Willelmm 


320 Paleography. 


Yates Generosum οὐ Dinam uxorem eius— | duabuws acris terre 
decem acris pasture δέ tribus— | cum pertinentiis esse ius 
ipsius Willedmi ut illa que iide[m}) 


The more recent date of this document is to be recog- 
nized by the coarser style of the writing and by the 
broken appearance of the letters, which is effected 
by their more strongly defined angularity. 

The Court hand continued in practice down to the 
reign of George 11.; the Chancery hand still sur- 
vives in the modern engrossing hands employed in 
enrolments and patents. 


ADDENDA. 


Page 49.—A metal pen, about two inches long, shaped 
and slit after the fashion of a quill-pen, was recently 
found by Professor Waldstein in the so-called tomb of 
Aristotle at Eretria— Nineteenth Century, May, 1891. 


Greek Paleography.—Since the sheets of this volume 
passed through the press, Monsieur Omont has published 
his Facsimilés des plus anciens Manuscrits Grees en onciale 
et en minuscule de la Bibliotheque Nationale du iv’ au 
wit® siecle (Paris, 1892). Among the plates are facsimiles 
of the Codex Sarravianus of the Old Testament, pl. 2 
(referred to above, p. 152, 1. 20, asan Octateuch) ; of the 
Codex Ephraemi, pl. 3 (above, p. 152, 1. 19); of the Pauline 
Epistles from Monnt Athos, pl. 4 (above, p. 154, 1. 1); 
of the Codex Claromontanus, pl. 5 (above, p. 154, 1. 22, 
and p. 181, 1. 19) ; of the Coislin Octateuch, pl. 6 (above, 
ἽΡ. 154, 1. 9); of a series of MSS. in late uncial writing, 
8th-11th centuries, pl. ὃ to 21 (to be added to the lists 
on pp. 157, 158); and of an Evangelistarium in large 
ornamental round-uncials of the 12th century, pl. 22. 

To the MSS. mentioned under the head of Greek 
Writing in Western Europe (p. 181) we can now add 
references to the following facsimiles in M. Omont’s 
series:—Pauline Epistles, in Greek and Latin, the 
Codex Sangermanensis of St. Petersburg, 9th century, 
p!. 5 bis; a Latin-Greek Psalter, Coislin MS. 186, 8th 
century, pl. 7; a Latin-Greek Glossary, MS. Latin 
7651, 9th century, pl. 23; and a Psalter, Arsenal MS. 
8407, 9th century, pl. 24. 


29 


322 Paleography. 


Systems of Dating.—It may be of practical use to add 
a few words on the different systems observed in dating 
manuscripts, 


Medieval Greek MSS. are dated sometimes by the 
year of the indiction, sometimes by the year of the 
world according to the era of Constantinople, sometimes 
by both indiction and year of the world. 

The Indiction was a cycle of fifteen years, which are 
severally styled Indiction 1, Indiction 2, etc., up to 
Indiction 15, when the series begins afresh. The in- 
troduction of this system is attributed to Constantine 
the Great. From the circumstance of the commence- 
ment of the indiction being reckoned variously from 
different days, four kinds of indictions have been recog- 
nized, viz. :— 

i. The Indiction of Constantinople, calculated from 
the 1st of September, a.p 312. 

ii. The Imperial or Cesarian Indiction (commonly 
used in England and France), beginning on the 24th of 
September, a.p. 312. 

iii. The Roman or Pontifical Indiction (commonly 
used in dating papal bulls from the ninth to the 


fourteenth century), beginning on the Ist of January (or 


the 25th of December, when that day was reckoned as 
the first day of the year), a.p. 313. 

iv. The Indiction used in the register of the parlia- 
ment of Paris, beginning in October. } 

The Greeks made use of the Indiction of Constan- 
tinople.* | 

To find the indiction of a year of the Christian era, 
add 8 to the year (because aD. 1=Indiction 4), and 


1 An independent mode of reckoning the commencement of the 
indiction was followed in Egypt under the later Roman Empire. 
The indiction there began normally in the latter half of the 
month Pauni, which corresponds to about the middle of June; 
but the actual day of commencement appears to have been vari- 
able and to have depended upon the exact period of the rising of 
the Nile.—Oatalogue of Greek Papyri in the British Museum, 
pp. 197, 198. 


ee ee ee ee ee 


ee. ee 


aioe. Sg ed clit eds. 


Addenda. 323 


divide the sum by 15: if nothing remains, the indiction 
will be 15 ; if there is a remainder, it will be the number 
of the indiction. But it must not be forgotten that 
the Indiction of Constantinople begins on the Ist of 
September, and consequently that the last four months 
of a year of the Christian era belong to the next 
indiction year. 

The year of the Creation of the World was calculated, 
according to the era of Constantinople, to be B.c. 5508. 
The first day of the year was the 180 of September. 

To reduce the Mundane era of Constantinople to the 
Christian era, deduct 5508 from the former for the 
months of January to August; and 5509 for September 
to December. 

A chronological table, showing the corresponding 
years of the Mundane era, the Christian era, and the 
Indiction, from a.p. 800 to a.p. 1599, will be found in 
Gardthausen’s Griechische Palaeographie, pp. 450-459. 


Latin MSS. are dated in several ways: by the year 
of the Christian era or of other eras, by the year of the 
indiction, by the regnal year of the reigning sovereign or 
pontiff, by the year of episcopate, etc. In England it 
was the general practice to date charters and other legal 
documents by the saint’s day or festival on which, or 
nearest to which, the deed was executed, and the regnal 
year of the reigning sovereign. 

The year of the Christian era, as now observed, is of 
the same form as the Julian year, which was settled by 
C. Julius Cesar in 4.v.c. 708, the first year of the 
system running from the Ist of January to the 3lst of 

‘December, A.u.c. 709. 

The Christian era is according to the calculation of 
Dionysius Exiguus (4.0. 553), who reckoned the birth 
of Our Lord, which took place in the 28th year of 
Augustus, as falling in a.v.c. 754, that is, dating from © 
the time when the Emperor took the name of Augustus. 
The early Christians, however, placed the birth of Our 
Lord four years ealier, calculating the 28th year of 
Augustus from the date of the Battle of Actium (a.u.c. 


224 Paleography. 


ΤΟ» and thus beginning the Christian era in Α.Ὁ.6. 
50 

The Dionysian year is supposed to have commensal 
on the 25th of March. | 

But the commencement of the year has been reckoned 
from different days in different countries :— 

In England and Ireland, from the sixth century to 
1066, it was reckoned from Christmas Day, or from the 
25th of March; after the Norman conquest to the year 
1155, from the lst of January ; and between 1155 and 
1751, from the 25th of March. 

In Scotland, down to the close of 1599, it was reckoned 
from the 25th of March. The 180 of January was the first 
day of the year 1600. 

In France, the year began varicusly in different 
dioceses and districts: on Christmas Day, Easter Eve, 
or the 25th of March. The Ist of January first began 
the year in 1564. 

In Germany, the year anciently began on Christmas 
Day. The 180 of January began the year in 1544. 

In Italy, generally, the year was reckoned from 
Christmas Day ; the lst of January was adopted in 1583. 
In Tuscany, however, the 25th of March was the first 
day, down to 1751, which commenced with the Ist of 
Junuary ; and in Venice, before 1522, when the Ist of 
January was altogether adopted, the legal year began 
on the Ist of March, and the civil year on the 180 of 
January. 

In Spain, the year began, in Aragon before 1350 and 
in Castile before 1383, on the Ist of January; and in 
those years and subsequently, down to 1556, at Christmas. 
In 1556 the 1st of January was adopted. 

In Portugal, the Spanish system was followed before 
1420; and in 1420 and subsequently, down to. 1556, the 
year began at Christmas. 

The era of Spain is reckoned from the Ist of January, 
Β.0. 38, that is, the year following the conquest of Spain 
by Augustus. This era was adopted in Africa, Spain, 
Portugal, and the South of France. Its use was aban- 
doned in Catalonia in 1180, and in Spain generally in 


5 Py 


2 met bees Wir ὧν 


Addenda. 325 


1350 and 1383 ; in Portugal, in 1420. To reduce a year 
of the era of Spain to one of the Christian era it is 
therefore necessary to subtract 38 from the number. 


The Julian calendar was foilowed down to the 
sixteenth century. The Julian calculation of the solar 
year was 365 days and 6 hours; to be correct, 11 
minutes and 12 seconds should have been added. Con- 
sequently, by the year 1582 there was an accumulation, 
representing rather more than ten days, unaccounted for. 
In this year, Pope Gregory XIII. reformed the calendar 
and introduced the “New Style.’ Ten days were 
omitted from the year 1582, viz. from the 5th to the 14th 
of October, inclusive, the 5th being counted as the 15th. 
The Gregorian calendar was generally adopted in Roman 
Catholic countries at once, or within a few years; in 
Protestant countries it was generally adopted to begin 
in the year 1700, in some at a later period, and in 
England not till 1751. In countries under the Greek 
Church the “Old Style” of the Julian calendar is still 
followed. 

By Act of Parliament of 24 George II., 1751, “ An 
Act for regulating the Commencement of the Year and 
for correcting the Calendar now in use,” the practice of 
commencing the legal year on the 25th of March was 
discontinued, and the lst of January was adopted; and 
the Gregorian calendar took the place of the Julian. 
The year 1751, which had commenced on the 25th of 
March, was brougbt to a close on the 8150 of December. 
The year 1752 began on the next day, the Ist of 
January, and ran to the 3lst of December, but was 
reduced by 11 days in the month of September, by 
omitting the nominal 38rd to the 13th, and calling the 
day after the 2nd the 14th. 

The reason why eleven days were now omitted instead 


of ten, as in the year 1582, is that the “ New Style” re- © 


quired that every hundredth year which is not a fourth 
hundredth should be counted as an ordinary year and 
not as a Leap-year, the first year to be so treated being 
1700, in which the 29th of February was unwritten. 


The year 1800 being iS; one hundredth 


- 


treated, the “ New Style” differs to the amoun 


be found in Sir H. Nicolas’s Cea of History 
in J. J. Bond’s Hundy-Book of Rules and Tables f 


’ ying Dates 


| LIST OF 
PRINCIPAL PALAOGRAPHICAL WORKS 


USED OR REFERRED TO. 


Taylor (I.), The Alphabet, 2 vuls., London, 1883, 8vo. 


Kirchhoff (A.), Studien zur Geschichte der griechi.chen Alpha- 
bets, 4th ed., Giitersloh, 1887, 8vo. 


Astle (T.), The Origin and Progress of Writing, London, 


1803, 4to. 

Berger (P.), Histoire de lV Ecriture dans l’Antiquité, Paris, 
1891, 8vo. 

Géraud (H.), Essar sur les Livres duns 1 Antiquité, Paris, 
1840, 8vo. 


goer (E.), Histoire du Livre depuis ses origines jusquwa nos 
jours, Paris, 1880, ὅνο. 
Birt (T.), Das Antike Buchwesen, Berlin, 1882, 8vo. 

Quantin, Dicti mnaire de Diplomatique Chrétienne [vol. 47 of 
Migne’s Encyclopédie Thévlogigue|, Paris, 1846, 8vo. 
Wattenbach (W.), Das Schriftwesen im Mittelaiter, 2nd ed.. 

Leipzig, 1875, 8vo., 


Blass (F.), Palacographie [article in I. von Miiller’s Handbuch 
der klassischen Attertums- Wissenschaft |, 2nd ed., Munich, 
1892, 8vo. 


Westwood (J. O.), Palwagraphia Sacra Picetoria, Loudon, 
1844, 4to. 


Silvestre (J. B.), Universal Paleography, ed. F. Madden, 
2 vols., London, 1850, 8vo., and 2 vols. (plates) fol. 


328 Pateography. 


Palzographical Society, Facsimiles of MSS. and Inscriptions, 
ed. Ε΄, A, Bond, E. M. Thompson, and G. ἘΞ Warner, ~ 


lst Series, 3 vols., London, 1873-1883, 2nd Series, 1884, 
etc., in progress, fol. 


Catalogue of Ancient Manuscripts in the British Museum, 
Put t., Greek, Part w., Latin, ed. KE. M. Thompson and 
G. F. Warner, London, 1881, 1884, fol. 

Vitelli (G.) and Paoli (C.), Collezione Fiorentina di facsimili 
paleografict Greci 6 Latini, Florence, 1384, etc., in pro- 
gress, fol. 


Montfaucon (B. de), Paleographia Greca, Paris, 1708, fol. 


Wattenbach (W.), Anleitung zur griechischen Palaeoyraphic, — 


2nd ed., Leipzig, 1877, 4to. 

Gardthausen (V.), Griechische Palaeographie, Leipzig, 1879, 
Svo. 

Notices et Textes des Papyrus Grecs du. Musée du Louvre et 
de la Bibliotheque Impériale [in Notices et Hxtraits des 
MSS. de la Bibliotheque Impériale, tome xviii., part 2], 
ed. ΝΥ. Brunet de Presle, Paris, 1865, 4to, and atlas. 

Catalogue of Greek Papyri in the British Museum, ed. F. G. 
Kenyon, London, 13893, 4to. and atlas. 

Peyron (B.), Papirt Greci del Museo Britanico di Londra e 
della Biblioteca Vaticana, Turin, 1841, 4to. 

Leemans (C.), Papyri Graect Musei Lugduni-Batavi, 2 vols., 
Leyden, 1843, 1885, 4to. 

Wiicken (U.), Tafeln zur aelteren griechischen Palaeographie, 
Leipzig and Berlin, 1891, fol. 

Mahaffy (J. P.), On the Klinders-Petrie Papyri [Royal Irish 
Academy, Cunningham Memoirs, no. vili.}, Dublin, 1891, 
Ato. 

Mittheilungen aus der Sammlung der Papyrus Erzherzog 
Rainer, Vienna, 1886, etc., in progress, foul. 

Papyrus Erzherzog Rainer: Fiihrer durch die Ausstellung, 
Vienna, 1892, 8vo. 


Sabas, Spectmina Palaeographica cudicum Graccorum et Slavo- 
nicorum, Moscow, 1863, 4to. 


4 = ne . 


a. δὰ τυ 


Principal Paleographical Works. 3209 


Wattenbach (W.), Schrifttafeln zur Geschichte der griechischen 
Schrift, Berlin, 18. 6-7, fol. 

Wattenbach (W.), Scripturae Graecae Specimina, Berlin, 1833, 
fol. 

Wattenbach (W.) and Velsen (A. von), Exempla Codicum 
Graecorum litteris minusculis scriprorum, Heidelberg, 1878, 
fol. 

Omont (H.), Faesimilés des plus anciens Manuscrits Gees 
en onciale et en minuscule de la Bibliotheque Nationale du 
iv’ au xit® siecle, Paris, 1892, fol. 

Omont (H.), Facsimilés des Manuscrits Grers datés de la Bib 
liothéque Nationale du ix® au xiv’ siécle, Pars, 1890, 
fol. 

Omont (H.), Facsimilés des Manuscrits Grecs des xv* et xvi* 
siécles reproduits en photolithographie dapreés les origi- 
παῖ de la Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris, 1887, 4to. 

Martin (A.), Facsimilés des Manuscrits Grecs @ Espagne, gravés 
@apres les photographies de Charles Gruux, 2 vols., Paris 
1891, 8vo. and atlas. 

Lehmann (0.), Die tachygraphischen Abkirzungen der griech 
ischen Handschriften, Leipzig, 1880, 8vo. 

Allen (T. W.), Noles on Abbreviations in Greck Manuscripts, 
Oxford, 1889, 8vo. 


Mabillon (J.), De Re Diplomatica, Paris, 1709, fol. 

Tassin and Toustain, Benedictines, Nouveau Traité de 
Diplomatique, 6 vols., Paris, 1750-1765, 4to. 

Kopp (U.), Palaeographia Critica, 4 vols., Mannheim, 1817- 
1829, 4to. 

Wailly (N. de), Eléments de Paléographie, 2 vols., Paris, 
1838, 4to. 

Delisle (L.), Mélanges de Paléographie et de Bibliographie, 
Paris, 1880, 8vo. and atlas. 

Wattenbach (W.), Anleitung zur lateinischen Palaeographie, 
4th ed., Leipzig, 1886, 4to. 


Chassant (A.), Paléographie des Chartes et des Manuscrits du 
ai° au xvir® siecle, 8th ed., Paris, 1885, 8vo, 


Palxography. 


Prou (M.), Manuel de Paléographie Latine et Francaise, Paris, — 
1891, 8vo. 

Gloria (A.), Compendio delle leziont teorico-pratiche di Puleo- 
grafia 6 Diplomatica, Padua, 1870, 8vo. and atlas. 


Arndt (W.), Schrifttafeln zum Gebrauch bet Vorlesungen, 
Berlin, 1874 (2nd. ed., 1876), 1878, fol. 

Pertz (G. H.), Schrifttafeln zum Gebrauch bet diplomatischen 
Vorlesuugen, Hanover, 1844-1869, fol. 


Wattenbach (W.) and Zangemeister (C.), Exempla Codicum 
Latinorum litteris majuseulis scriptorum, Heidelberg, 
1876, 1879, fol. 

Champollion-Figeac (A.), Paléographie des Classiques Latins, 
Paris, 18.9, fol. 

Chatelain (E.), Paléographie des Classiqu:s Latins, Paris, 
1884, ete., in progress, fol. 

Zangemeister (C.), Inscriptiones parietariae Pompeianae [in 

Corpus Inscripticnum Latinarum, vol. iv.], Berlin, 1871, 

εἶν ae 

Massmann (J. F.), Libellus Aurarius sive Tabulae Ceratae, 
Leipzig, 1841, 4to. 

Mommsen (T.), IJnstrumenta Dacica in tabulis ceratis con- 
scripta aliaque similia {in Corpus Inscripiionum Latina- 
rum, vol, 111., part 2), Berlin, 1873, fol. 

Petra (G. de), Le Tavolette Cerate di Pompei [in Atti dela 
R. Accademia dei Lineei, series ii., vol. iii., part 3], 
Rome, 1876, 8vo. 

Marini (G.), J Papiri diplomatict, Rome, 1805, fol. 


Champollion-Figeae (A.), Chartes et Manuscrits sur papyrus de 
la Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris, 1840, fol. 

Letronne (J. A.), Diplémes et Chartes de Vépoque Mérovin- 
gienne sur papyrus et sur velin, Paris, 1845-1866, fol. 
Tardif (J.), Archives de Empire: Facsimile de Chartes et 

Diplimes Mérovingicns et Carlovingiens, Paris, 1866, 
fol. 
Delisle (L.), Le Cabinet des Manuscrits de la Bibliotheque 
Nationale, 3 vols. and plates, Paris, 1868-1881, fol. 
Album Paléographique avec des notices explicatives par la 


Principal Paleographical Works. 433 


Société de V Ecole des Chartes, ed. L. Delisle, Paris, 1887, 
fol. 


Recueil de Fac-similés ἃ Vusage de V Ecole des Chartes, Paris, 
1880, ete., in progress, fol. 


Musée des Archives Départementales, Paris, 1878, fol. 


Delisle (L.), Etudes Paléographiques et Historiques sur un 
papyrus du vi siecle renfermant des homilies de St. Avit 
et des écrits de St. Augustin, Geneva, 1866, 4to. 

Delisle (L.), Notice sur un Manuscrit Mérovingien contenant 
des fragments @ Eugyppius, Paris, 1875, fol. 


Delisle (L.), Notice sur un Manuscrit Mérovingien de la Bib- 
liotheque d’ Epinal, Paris, 1878, fol. 
Delisle (L.), Notice sur un Manuserit Mérovingien de la Bih- 


liotheque Royale de Belgique {in Notices et Extraits des 
MSS., tome xxxi.], Paris, 1884, 4to. 


Delisle (L.), Notice sur un Manuscrit de VAbbaye de Luxeuil 
{in Notices et Extraits des MSS., tome xxxi. |, Paris, 1886, 
4to. 


Delisle (L.), Mémoire sur 1 Ecole calligraphique de Tours au 
ἴω" siécle [in Mémoires de Académie des Inscriptions, 
tome xxxii.], Paris, 1885, 4to. 

Delisle (L.), Mémoire sur danciens Sacramentaires [in Mé- 
motres de 1 Académie des Inseriptions, tome xxxii.|, Paris, 
1885, 4to. 

Delisle (L.), D’Evangéliaire de Saint Vaast d’Arras et la 
Calligraphie Franco Saxonne du ix* siécle, Paris, 1888, 
fol. 

Sickel (T.), Monumenta Graphica medii seri ex archivis et 


bibliotheeis Imperii Austriaci collecta, 4 vols., Vienna, 
1858-1882, 4to. and atlas. 


Sickel (T.), Schrifttafeln aus dem Nachlasse von U. F. von 
Kopp, Vienna, 1870, fol. 

Sybel (H. von) and Sickel (T.), Kaiserurkunden in Abbildungen, 
Vienna, 1880, etc., in progress, 4to. and atlas. 

Pflugk-Harttung (J. von), Specimina selecta Churtarum Pon- 
tificum Romanorum, Stuttgart, 1885-1887, fol. 


Monaci (M.), Facsimili di antichi Manoscritti, Rome, 1881-3, 
fol. 


222 Paleography. 


Monaci (E.) and Paoli (C.), Archivio Paleografico Italiano, 
two series, Rome, 1882-1890, fol. 


Foucard (C.), La Scritturain Italia sino a Carlomagno, Milan, 
1888, fol. 


Bibliotheca Casinensis, ed. L. Tosti, 4 vols., Monte-cassino, 
1873-1880, in progress, 4to. 

Tabularium Casinense, 2 vols., Monte-cassino, 1887, 1891, in 
progress, 4to. 

Paleografia Artistica di Montecassino, Monte-cassino, 1876, 
etc., in progress, fol. 

Codex Diplomaticus Cavensis, ed. M. Morealdi, 6 vols., Naples, 
1873, etc., in progress, 4to. 

Ewald (P.) and Loewe (G.), Exempla Scripturae Visigoticae, 
Heidelberg, 1888, fol. 

Rodriguez (C.), Bibliotheca Universal de la Polygraphia Espa- 
Ποία, Madrid, 1738, fol. 

Merino (A.), Escuela Paleographica, Madrid, 1780, fol. 

Muiios y Rivero (J.), Paleografia Visigoda, Madrid, 1881, 
8vo. 


Facsimiles of National Manuscripts of England (Ordnance 
Survey), ed. W. B. Sanders, 4 parts, Southampton, 1865- 
1868, fol. 


Facsimiles of National Manuscripts of Scotland (Ordnance 
Survey), ed. C. Innes, 3 parts, Southampton, 1867-1871, 
fol. 

Facsimiles of National Manuscripts of Ireland (Ordnance Sur- 
vey), ed. J. T. Gilbert, 4 parts (in 5 vols.), Dublin and 
London, 1874-1884, fol. 


' Facsimiles of Ancient Charters in the British Museum, ed. 


E. A. Bond, 4 parts, London, 1873-1878, 4to. and fol. 
Faesimiles of Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts (Ordnance Survey), 
ed. W. B. Sanders, 3 parts, Southampton, 1878-1884, fol. 
Skeat (W. W.), Twelve Facsimiles of Old English Manuscripts, 
_ Oxford, 1892, 4to. 
Walther (J. L.), Lexicon Diplomaticum abbreviationes syl- 


labarum et vocum ..«.. exponens, Gottingen, 1747, 
fol. 


ee oe | = 
Ἐ . 


Principal Palxographical Works. 333 


Mommsen (T.). Notarum Laterevli [in Keil’s Grammatieci 
Latini, vol. iv.], Leipzig, 1864, 4to. 

Chassant (A.), Dictionnaire des Abréviations Latines et Fran- 
caises, 5th ed., Paris, 1884, 8vo. 


Wright (A.), Court-Hand restored, ed. C. T. Martin, London, 
1879, 4to. 


Martin (C. T.), The Record Interpreter, London, 1892, 8vo. 


Nicolas (Sir H.), The Chronology of History [in Lardner’s 
Calinet Cyclopedia}, London, 1845, 8vo. 


Bond (J. J.), Handy-Book of Rules and Tables for verifying 
Dates, London, 1869, 8vo. 


Full lists of paleographical works, Greek and Latin, will be 
found in the Introductions by Monsieur Omont to his Fac- 
similés des Manuscrits Grecs datés de la Bibliothéque Nationale 
and by Monsieur Delisle to the Album Paléographique ; and a 
series of articles on palzographical publications which annually 
appear have been written by Professor Wattenhbach in the 
Jahresberichte der Geschichtswissenschajt since 1879 (II. Jahr- 


gang). 


“νυν νασουν 


i | A 


A. 

ABBREVIATIONS. See Contrac- 
tions. 

Abu-Simbel, Greek inscription 
at, 9. 

Accents, Greek system, 71, 72; 
Latin, 74. 

Actium, Battle of, poem on, 186. 

f®lian, MS., 180. 

/Hthelstan, King of England, 
charter of, 252. 

fEthelwold, Bishop of Winches- 
ter, benedictional of, 267. 

Alburnus Major (Verespatak). 
in Dacia, tablets from, 24, 26, 
204. 

Alcuin, Abbot of St. Martin’s of 
Tours, assists in the reform of 
writing in France, 233. 

‘* Alexandrinus ”’ codex, 151. 

Alphabet: Egyptian, 1-4; Greek, 
1, 5-9; Latin, 9-11; Pheni- 
cian, 5-7 ; Semitic, 3-9. 

“‘ Amiatinus’’ codex, 194, 245. 

“ Ancren Riwle,’’ MS., 288. 

Apocalypse, commentary on, 
226. 

Apostrophe, 72, 73. 

Arabs, their manufacture of 
papyrns, 31; of paper, 43. 

Arcus, a folded sheet, 63. 

Aristophanes of Byzantium. his 
system of punctuation, accents, 
etc., 70-72. 

Aristotle, MS. of the ‘‘ Constitu- 
tion of Athens,” 113, 140. 

“ Armagh, Book οὗ, 242. 

Artavus, a pen-knife, 53. 

Artemisia, papyrus of, 119. 

Assyrians, their clay tablets, 14, 
18; their use of p:pyras, 28. 


INDEX. 


Asterisk, 75. 

Atramentarium, an ink-stand, 51. 

Atramentum, ink, 50. 

Auction-sales, waxen tablets 
relating to, 25. 

Augustine, St., his writing 
tablets, 22; MSS., 223, 260, 
261, 282. 

Avesbury, Robert of, MS., 231. 

** Ayenbite of Inwyt,’’ MS., 289. 


B. 


* BAARLAM and Josaphat,”’ MS., 
172. 

‘*‘ Bankes Homer,”’ 127. 

Bark of trees,as a writirg mate- 
rial, 13. 

Basil, St., MS., 165. 

Bath, leaden tablet found there, 
17. 

Beatus, presbyter, commentary 
on the Apocalypse, 226. 

Bede, MSS., 249, 260, 289. 

Bible, Latin terms for, 55; early 
vellam MSS., 61; various 
MSS., 156, 157, 194, 195, 202, 
245, 266, 273, 289. 

Bibliotheca, a Bible, 55. 

βίβλος, βιβλίον, a book, 54, 55, 
60 


Blastares, Matthew, MS., 150. 

Bokenham, Osbern, MS., 292. 

Bologna, leaden plates used for 
writing there, 17. 

Book. See Roll. 

* Boustrophedon”’ writing, 9. 

Breathings in Greek MSS.,, 71, 
72. 


Bronze, as a writing material, 17. 
Bulls, papal, 295-297. 


336 Paleography. 


C. 


Casartius, St., MS., 231. 

Calamarium, καλαμοθήκη, a reed- 
pen box, 49. 

Calamus, κάλαμος, ἃ reed-pen, 
49. 

Callimachus, his πίνακες, 78. 

Canon, a ruler, 53. 

Canons, Ecclesiastical, MS. of, 
264, 

Canterbury, school of writing at, 
244, 245; MS. from, 217. 

Capital letters, definition of, 
117. See Paleography, Latin. 

Capsa, cista, a chest for rolls, 
57. 

Caroline, er Carlovingian, writ- 
ing, 233. 

Carthage, leaden plates found 
there, 16. 

“Casati contract,’? a papyrus, 
137. 

Catch-words in quires, 62. 

Cedar oil, use of, for rolls, 57. 

Cere, waxen tablets, 20. 

“Chad, St., Guspels of,’ 210. 

Chancery-hands: paval, 294- 
297 ; imperial, 297-300; Eng- 
lish, 315-317. 

Charlemagne, reform of writing 
in his reign, 253; deed of, 
298. 

Charms, written on leaves or 
metals, 18, 15; on lead, 16, 
17. 

Charta bombycina, meaning of the 
term, 44. 

Charta, χάρτης, papyrus, 23. 

χαρτίον, a leaf of a MS., 63. 

Chaucer, MS., 292. 

Childebert III., charter of, 227. 

Chinese, their early use of paper, 
48. 

Shronicles: Anglo-Saxon, 254, 
287; ‘Grandes Chroniques,”’ 
277; English history, 278. 

κρόνοι, the quantities of sy Llables, 
72 


Chronological notes, MS. of, 
197. 

Chrysostom, St. John, MSS., 166, 
168, 170, 


Cicero, “ De Republica,’’ 192, 

Circinus, a pricker, 53. 

Clay, as ἃ writing material, 14. 

Cleanthes, the Stoic, his writing 
material, 15. 

nee St., of Alexandria, MS., 
164. 

Cnidus, in Caria, leaden plates 
found there, 16. 

Codee (or caudex), a set of 
tablets, 20, 60; a book, 61; 
description of, 60-62; vellum 
codices in Rome, 61. 

Codicilli, small tablets, 2L. 

Colon, length of, 81. 

Colophons, 66. 


; Columns of writing, in papyri, 


583; in codices, 64. 

Comestor, Petrus, MS., 273. 

Comma, length of, 82. 

Constantine the Great, vellum 
MSS. written for, 37. 

Constantine V., fragment of a 
letter of, 33. 

Conrractions and abbreviations, 
Greek, 85-96; early period of, 
88; two systems, 88, 89; 
special signs, 92-96; Latin, 
96-104; early system, 96-98; 
medizval system, 99-104; 
general signs, 99-101; special 
signs, 101, 102; conventional 
signs, 102. 

Cornu, the tip of an umbilicus, 
56. 

Correction, marks of, 74, 75. 

Court-hand, in legal documents, 
315, 317-320. 

Croyland abbey, deed of, 309, 

Cryptography, 85. 

Cultellus, a pen-knife, 53. 

Cursive writing: cursive forms 
of Greek letters in papyri, 
144-148; Roman ecnrsive, 203— 
216; forms of ietters, 205, 206, 
213, 214, 215; medieval 
foreign, 293-301; medizval 
English, 301-320. 

Cyvewulf, King of 
charter of, 249. 

Cyprus, Phoenician inscription 
from, 5; imprecatory leaden 
tablets from, 16. 


Mercia, 


Index. 


D. 


Dacta, waxen tablets from, 24, 
26, 204. 

Dalmatia, charm on lead from, 
17. 

Damascus, a centre of paper 
commerce, 43. 

Dating of MSS., systems of, 322- 
326. 

δέλτος, δελτίον, δελτίδιον, tablets, 
20 


Demetrius, will of, on papyrus, 
133. 

διαβάτης, ἃ pricker, 53. 

Dizresis, marks of, 73. 

διαστολή, a dividing c»mma, 72. 

““Dimma, Book of,”’ 241. 

Dioscorides, MS., 143. 

διφθέραι, papyrus, 28; skins, 35, 

διπλῆ, a paragraph mark, 63. 

Diploma, a folded sheet, 63. 

Diptycha, duplices, ἔδίπτυχα, 
δίθυροι, a two-leaf tablet, 20. 

Dirz, imprecations, on lead, 16. 

Distinctiones, marks of punctua- 
tion, 70. 

Dodona, oracular leaden plates 
found there, 16 
“Durham Book.” 
farne Gospels. 


See Lindis- 


E. 


Epwarp I., King of England, 
charter of, 307. 

Edward II,, King of England, 
writ of Privy Seal, 308. 

ἔγκαυστον, ink, 50. 

Egyptians, ancient: their alpha- 
bet, 1-4; their use of linen as 
ὃ writing material, 14; of 
potsherds, 14; of wooden 
tablets, 18, 19; of papyrus, 
27; of skins, 34; of red ink, 
51; their manufacture of papy- 
rus, 30-33, 


eiAntdpiov, εἴλητον, ἐνείλημα, 
ἐξείλημα, ἃ roll, 24, 55. 
ἐκφυλλοφορία, ostracism with 


leaves, 13. 
England: writing before the 


23 


337 


Norman conquest, 244-256, 
early foreign school, 244, 245; 
native northern school, 245; 
local styles, 249-251; foreign 
influence, 253; medizval MSS. 
256-270, 273, 274, 276, 278, 
230-282, 285-292; cursive or 
charter-hand aud court-hand, 
301-320. 

Ennius, invention of shorthand 
signs attributed to, 84. 

Ephraem, St., MS., 167. 

ἔπος, @ measured line of writing 
78. 

Erechtheum, at Athens, memo- 
randa of accounts, 19, 28. 

ἐσχατοκόλλιον, the last leaf of a 
papyrus roll, 31. 

Euclid, MS., 163. 

Eugyppius, MS., 232. 

Eumenes of Pergamum, reputed 
inventor of parchment or 
vellum, 35. ‘ 

Euripides, fragments of plays, 
112, 120. 

Euthalius of Alexandria, his 
stichometrical arrangements in 
the Bibie, 80, 82. 

Evangelistarium, 157. 

Ezclamantes, catch-words, 62, 

Explicit, derivation of, &9. 

** Kxultet ’’ rolls, 60. 


F. 


Fraccts, Albinus, MS., 230. 

Folium, φύλλον, the leaf of a 
codex, 63. 

Forulus, a chest for rolls, 57. 

France: ancient and medieval 
MSS., 259-263, 265, 270, 275, 
276, 277, 284. 

Frontes, the edges of a rvll, 56. 

Fnida, Μ 535. cuunected with, 194, 
204. 


G. 
GATHERINGS. See Qnires. 
Germanicus, charms used to 


destroy him, 16. 
Germany: medieval MSS., 264, 
283, 


338 

γλῶσσα, yAwoodpiov, a book-label, 
57. 

λυπτήρ, γλύφανον, ἃ pen-knife, 
89. 


Gold, as ἃ writing material, 15; 
as a writing fluid, 51, 52. 

Gospels, MSS.: early Irish, 238 ; 
“Kells,” 239: “St. Chad,” 
240; ‘“‘MacRegol,’’ 241; “Ατ- 
magh,” 242; ‘* MacDarnan,” 
242; ‘‘Lindisfarne,” 246; 
‘ Canterbury,” 247; ‘ Lo- 
thair,’’ 259. 

Graffiti, wall-scribblings, 15, 203, 
206, 207. 

γραμματεῖον, a tablet, 20. 

Graphiarium, γραφιοθήκη, @ pen- 
box, 49. 

Graphium, γραφεῖον, ἃ writing 
implement, 48. 

Greece: history of the Greek 
alphabet, 5-9; antiquity of 
writing in, 115; use of tablets 
by the Greeks, 19, 23, 24; of 
papyrus, 28; of skins, 35; 
Greek MSS., 119-180. 

Gregory, Pope, MSS., 229, 268. 


H. 


HAubF-UNcIAL writing. See Palec- 
graphy, Latin. 
Harmenopoulos, 
MSS., 174, 179. 

“ Harris Homer,’’ 124. 

Henry I., Emperor, charter of, 
239. 

Henry II., King of England, 
charter of, 302. 

Henry IV., King of Englaad, 
charter of, 310. 

Herculaneum, papyri found there, 
113 ; their treatment, 114. 

Herodas, MS., 113, 128. 

Herodotus, MS., 174. 

Hesiod, his works written on 
lead, 16. 

Hilary, St., MS., 201. 

Homer : lines from the Iliad on 
a board, 19; tradition of copy 
ofthe Iliad on purple vellum, 
40; pipyri of the Iliad, 109; 


Constantine, 


Palxography. 


“Harris ’’ Iliad, 124; “Bankes’’ 
Iliad, 127; Iliad on papyrus, 
129; MS. of the Olyssey. 177. 
Homilies, MSS., 230, 272, 287. 
Horace, MS., 279. 
Hospitallers, charter of, 304. 
Hyperides, orations of, on 
papyrus, 60, 110, 111, 123. 
Hyphen, 67, 72. 
ὑποστιγμή, @ mark of punctua- 
tion, 70. 


i. 


IMPERIAL Chancery, writing used 
in, 297-300. 

Imprecations, on lead, 16, 

Incaustum, ink, 50. 

Index, a book-label, 39, 57. 

Ink, varieties and materials, 50; 
various colours, 51. 

Ireland: history of writing in, 
236-244; ornamentation of 
MSS., 239, 240; influence «of 
Irish writing abroad, 213, 244. 

Tsidore, St., MS., 224. 

Italy: mediwval MSS., 272, 279, 
289. 


J. 


JEROME, St., his denunciation of 
sumptuous MSS., 49; works of, 
233, 283. 

Jesus Christ, forms of contrac- 
tion of the name, 102. 

Jews, their use of skins as 8 
writing material, 34. 

John VIII., Pope, Arab protocol 
in a ball of, 32; bull, 295. 

Johv, King of England, charter 
of, 3U3. 

Jucundus, L. Cecilius, tablets 
found in his house at Pomp.ii, 
25. 

Justinian, Pandects, 198, 199. 


K. 


καταβατόν, @ column of writing, 
58. 
“Kells, Book of,’’ 239. 


is at 


_— eee 


ι 


=e συν" ἂς 


ree eee eh 


L[ndex. 339 


Kent, early charter, 251. 
κέρας, the tip of an umbilicus, 
56 


Kilian, St., Gospels of, 237. 

κιννάβαρις, purple ink, 51. 

κίστη, κιβωτός, ἃ chest for rolls, 

nbeccwvor μελάνιον, red ink, 51. 

κονδίλιον, a brush for writing with 
fluid gold, 4%. 

κορωνίς, a paragraph-mark, 68 

κυκλομόλιβδος, lead for ruling, 
53. 

κύλινδρος, ἃ roll, 54. 


L. 


LEAD, asa writing material, 16, 
17 ; for ruling, 53, 58. 

Leaves of trees, as a writing 
material, 12; used for ostra- 
cism and for charms, 13. 

Lectionaries, 169, 221, 228, 274. 

Letters (epistles), tablets used 
fur,21; process of sealing and 
opening, 22; late examples on 
tablets, 22. 

Liber, libellus, a papyrus roll, 54, 
55; a codex, 60. 

Lime-tree, the inner bark as a 
writing material, 13. 

*‘ Lindisfarne Gospels,’’ 246. 

Linea, a line of writing, 63. 

Linen, as ἃ writing material, 
14, ᾿ 

Linum, λίνον, a thread to fasten 
tablets, 21. 

Livy, MS., 193. 

λόγος, ἃ division of a work, 
55 


Lombardic writing, 218-222. 
Lothair, Emperor, his MS. of the 
Gospels, 259. 


M. 


** MAcCDURNAN Gospels,” 242. 

** MacReg»l Gospels,’’ 241. 

** Melbrighte Gospels,”’ 243. 

Majuscule letters, definition of, 
117. 


Manuscripts, lists of, ete.: 
Greek tablets, 19, 23, 21; 
Greex and Latin medieval 
MSS. on papyrus, 33, 34; par- 
ple and gilded vellum MSS., 
40-42; early paper MSS., 45; 
a red-ink MS., 51; MSS. writ- 
ten in gold, 52; MSS. written 
in many columns, 64, 65; 
palimpsests, 77; MSS. with 
stichometrical memoranda, 78, 
81; tachygraphical MSS., 83, 
84, 85 ; Greek papyri, 107-115 ; 
earliest Greek cursive papyri, 
131; Greek MSS. in early 
uncials, 152-154, 321; late, 157, 
158, 321; in sloping minuscules, 
161; writtenin Western Europe, 
181,182,321; Latin MSS. in raus- 
tic capitals, 148, 189 ; in mixed 
uncials and minuscules, 197, 
199, 200; in half-uncials, 200, 
201; in Roman cursive, 215 ; 
in English half-uncials, 247 ; 
Anglo-Saxon MSS. in foreign 
style, 253. 

Martyrology, 225. 

Massa, Michael de, MS., 280. 

Mathematical treatise, 155. 

Maurilius, St., life of, 266. 

Maximin, the younger, his MS. 
of Homer, 40. 

Maximus, St., MS., 216. 

μέλαν, ink, 50. 

μελανδόχον, an ink-stand, 51. 

Menzum, 176. 

Mercia, haudwriting of, 249, 
250. 

Merovingian writing, 226-233. 

Mesha, King of Moab, record of 
his wars on the ‘* Muabite 
stone,’’ 5. 

Minium, red ink, 51. 

Minuscule letters, definition of, 
117. See Palwography. 

Miracles of the Virgin, 284. 

** Moabite stone,’’ 5. 

μόλιβδος, κυκλοτερὴς, Or τροχόεις, 
lead for ruling, 53. 

μόλυβδος, ἃ plummet, 53. 

Monastic rules, 222. 

μονόβιβλος, a work contained in a 
single roll, 55, 


πε"... 


340 Paleography. 


N. 


NETHERLANDS: medieval MSS., 
266, 282. 

Nidus, a chest for rolls, 57. 

Norma, a ruler, 53. 

Norwich, Bishop of, charter of, 
308. 

Note Juris, legal abbreviations, 
OT, 

Novacula, an erasing knife, 53. 

Numerals: Greek, two systems, 
104; fractions, 105; R man, 
105; Arabic, 106. 


O. 


Obelus, @ mark for distinction, 
75. 

Occleve, MS., 291. 

ὀμφαλός, stick or knob of a roll, 
£6. 


Opisthographs, 59. 69. 

Oracles, on lead, 16. 

Origen, MS.., 271. 

Ostracism, with leaves, 13; with 
potsherds, 14, 15. 

Ostraka, 14. 

Oxford, Earl of, charter of, 312. 


ar: 


Pznula, the wrapper of a roll, 39, 
56. 

Pagina, a column of writing, 58. 

Paleography, Greek; divisions 
of, 116; the book-hand in 
papyri, 118-129 ; ; cursive writ- 
ivg in papyri, 130-148 ; forms 
of cursive letters, 144. 148 ; 
uncial writing in vellum MSS., 
149-158; classes of medizxval 
minuscule MSS., 159; codices 
‘vetustissimi, 162-165 ; codices 
vetusti, 165-170; codices re- 
centiores, 170-176; codices 
novelli, 176-181; Greek writ- 
ing in Western Europe, 181, 
182; Greek letters used in 
Latin signatures, 182. 

Palxography, Latin: writing in 


capitals, 183-190; square and 
rustic capitals, 184; age of 
earliest MSS. in rustic letters, 
187; writing in uncials, 190- 
195; in mixed uncials and 
minuscules, 196-200; in half- 
uncials, 200-202; Roman cur- 
‘sive writing, 203-216; forms 
of cursive letters, 205, 206, 
213-215; writing in minus- 
cules, 217-285; Lombardic 
writing, 218-222; Visigothic 
writing, 222-226 ; Merovingian 
writing, 226-233; the Caro- 
line reform, 233; Irish writing, 
236-244; the round hand, 237- 
241; the pointed hand, 241- 
243; English writing before 
the Norman conquest, 244-256; 
the round hand, 245, 247; the 
pointed land, 248-252; medi- 
geval writing in books, 257-235; 
of the ninth century, 259-261, 
254; of the tenth century, 
261-263, 267; of the eleventh 
century, 265, 266, 268; of the 
twelfth century, 269-271; of 
the thirteenth century, 272- 
275 ; of the fourteenth century, 
275-279; of the fifteenth cen- 
tury, 279-285; MSS. in the 
English tongue, 285-292; 
medizval cursive wri'ing, 298-- 
301; writing of the Papal 
Chancery, 294-297; of the 
Imperial Chancery, 297-300 ; 
origin of modern writing in 
Western Europe, 300; the 
English medizyval charter- 
hand, 301-312; later legal 
writing 313-320; Chancery- 
hand, 315-317; Court-hand, 
315, 317-020. 

Palermo, papyrus grown there, 
29 


Palimpsests, 75-77. 

Pamphilus of Czsarea, vellum 
MSS. in his library, 37. 

Pandectes, a Bible, 55. 

Papal chancery, writing used in, 
294-297. 

Paper, history uf, 43-17; medi- 
eval names, 43; introduction 


: 
. 
| 
| 
‘ 
; 
: 


ἂν = νυν 


Index. | 341 


into Europe, 43; materials, 44; 
manufacture in Europe, Ἐν, 46; 
water-marks, 47. 

Pepyrus: description of the plant, 
27; ancient Egyptian papyrus 
rolls, 28; price of the writing 
material at Athens, 28; im- 
portation to Rome, 28, 29; 
manufacture, 30-33 ; varieties, 
32, 33; late use, 33, 34; papy- 
rus in book-form, 34, 62. 

Papyrus MSS.,Greek: discoveries 
in Egypt, 107-113; at Hercu- 
laneum, 113, 115; MSS. writ- 
ten in capitals and uncials, 
118-129; in cursive letters, 
130-148; Latin MSS., 34. 

παράγραφος, ἃ dividiug-stroke, 
68. 


Paragraphs. See Text. 

Parchme.t. See Vellum. 

Pausanias, MS , 178. 

Pen, early use of, 49, 321. 

Penicillus, peniculus, a brush to 
apply fluid gold, 49. 

Pentaplycha, πεντάπτυχα, a five- 
leaf tablet, 20. 

Pepin le Bref, imperial letter to, 
33, 143. 

Persians, their use of skins for 
writing material, 3). 

πεταλισμός, ostracism with leaves, 
13. 

φαινόλης, the wrapper of a roll, 
39, 56. 

Philodemus, MSS., 114, 124. 

φιλύρα, inner bark of the lime- 
tree, 13. 

Pheenician alphabet, 5. 

‘¢ Piers Plowman,”’ MS, 239. 

πίναξ, mivaxis, a tablet, 20. 

πιττάκιον, ἃ book-label, 57. 

Plato, fragment of the ‘‘ Phdo,”’ 
112, 120. 

Plumbum, a plummet, 53. 

πνεύματα, breathings, 71. 

Polybius, MS., 175. 

Polyptycha, a many-leaf tablet, 

. 20 


Pompeii, wall-scribblings at, 15, 
209; waxen tablets from, 21, 
29. 

Porphyrius, MS., 172. 


Positure, positions of marks of 
punctuation, 70. 

Potsherds, as a writing material, 
14, 

‘*¢ Prisse papyrus,” 4, 28. 

πρωτόκυλλον, the first sheet of a 
papyrus roll, 31. 

Psalters, 156, 173, 252, 276, 281. 

Ptah-Hotep, precepts of, 4. 

Ptolemy, Ms., 178. 

Pugillares, small tablets, 21. 

πυκτιόν, πυξίον, a tablet, 20. 

Punctorium, a pricker, 53. 

Punctuation, systems of, 67-71. 

Purple vellum. See Vellam. 

Puteus, a chest for rolls, 57. 


Q. 


Quaternio, a quire of four sheets, 
62. 

Quintuplices, a five-leaf tablet, 
20. 

Quires, arrangem nt of, 62, 63. 

Quotation, marks of, 73. 


R. 


RABANUsS Mavurvus, MS., 262. 


Rasorium, a scribe’s knife, 53. 

Ravenna, papyrus documents 
from, 34 

Reeds, as a writing implement, 
49. 

Rescript, imperial, 212. 

Riga, a line of writing, 63. 

Roll (book), 54-60; its forma- 
tion, 56; method of unrolling 
and rolling, 58, 59; opistho- 
graphs, 59, tO; survivai in the 
middle ages, 60. 

Rome: history of the Roman 
alphabet, 9-11; use of various 
writing materials in, 14; of 
waxen tablets, 24-26; of papy- 
rus, 29; of vellum, 35, 37. 

Rotulus, medizval term for a 
roll, 55. 

Rougé, de, his discovery of the 
origin of the alphabet, 3, 4. 

Rubrica, red ink, ὃ]. 


242 Palxography. 


Ruling of lines, in papyri, 58; in 
codices, 63, 64. 

Rustic capitals. See Paleecgraphy, 
Latin. 


8. 


SACRAMENTARY, 263, 

Saints, Lives of, 164, 168, 263, 
292. 

Sallust, MS.. 285. 

Samnuites, their use of linen asa 
writing material, 14. 

Scalprum,Scalpellum, a pen-knife, 
53 


Scapus, a roll, 31. 

σχοῖνος, a writing reed, 49. 

Scrinium, a chest for rolls, 57. 

σελίς, σελίδιον, ἃ column of writ- 
ing, 58. 

Semitic alphabet, 3-9. 

Seneca, Tironian notes collected 
by, 84. 

Severus, Sulpicius, MS., 234, 235. 

Shorthand. See Tachygraphy. 

Sigla, single-letter abbreviations, 
86, 96. 

σίλλυβος, olttvBos, a book-label, 
89, 57. 

Silver, as a writing material, 15; 
as ἃ writing finid, 52. 

Simplicius, MS., 176. 

‘* Sinaiticus ’? codex, 150. 

Skins, as writing material, 34. 

σμίλη, a pen-knife, 53. 

σωμάτιον, a vellum codex, 61. 

Spain: Visigothic writing, etc., 
105, 222-226. 

Spouge, used for erasure, 53. 

Stichometry, 78-82. 

στίχος, ἃ line of writing, 63, 78 ; 
a sense-line, 81. 

στιγμή, ἃ mark of punctuation, 
7U. 

Stilus, a writing implement, 48. 

Subdistinctio, a mark of punciua- 
tion, 7u. 

σύγγραμμα, ἃ subdivision of a 
book, δ. 

σύνταγμα, a Subdivision of a book, 
990. 

Syracuse, papyrus grown there, 


1. 


Tabellarii, messengers, 21. 

Tablets, of lime-wood, 14; mili- 
tary diplomas, 17,18; wooden 
tablets, 18,19; waxen tablets, 
19, 28, 139, 167, 204, 208-210; 
special uses, 19-23; price of, 
at Athens, 19; denominations, 
20; representations, 20, 21; 
materials, 22; late use of, 23; 
Greek, 23, 24; Latin, 24-26; 
arrangement of writing on, 25, 
26; vellum tablets, 37. 

Tabulz, tabellx, writing tablets, 
20. 

Tachygraphy, 82-84; signs used 
in Greek contrac ions, 91-96; 
in Latin contractions, 98, 101, 
102. 

Tallies of the Exchequer, 19. 

Tax-receipts, 25, 133. 

τετράς, TeTpadiov, a quire of four 
sheets, 62. 

τεῦχος, a literary work, 55. 

Text: arrangement, 64-67; co- 
lumns, 64; paragraphs, 65; 
separation of words, 6d, 67, 68; 
enlarged letters, 65, 66; com- 
pression, 65; first lines of divi- 
sions, 65; titles, rubrics, and 
colophons, 66; division of 
words, 66, 67; running titles, 
66; hyphen, 67; paragraphs, 
68 ; enlarged letters, 69; punc- 
tuation, 69-71; accentuation, 
71-75; marks of correction, 
etc., 73, 74. 

Theodore, St., MS., 169. 

Theonas, Bishop of Alexandria, 
his advice on ornamentation of 
MSS., 39. 

Theophylactus, MS., 171. 

Theopompus, stichometrical re- 
ference by, 79. 

θέσεις, positions of marks of punc- 
tuation, 70. 

Tiles, inscribed, 15, 211. 

Tilia, inner bark of the lime- 
tree, 13. 

Tironian notes, 84, 98, 101, 102. 

Title, 58. 

Tiiulus, a book-label, 39, 57. 


3 


_— δ αν 


Pew ar Tee 


‘ 


Index. 343 


Toga, wrapper of a roll, 39. 

τόμος, portion of a work, 55. 

τόνοι, accents, 72. 

Tours, school of writing at, 233, 
234. 

Treasury circular, on papyrus, 
136. 

Triptycha, triplices, tpimrvxa, 8 
thiee-leaf tablet, 20. 


Gg. 


Umbilicus, the central stick or 
knob of a roll. 56. 

Uncial letters, definition of, 117. 
See Palxography. 

Urban II., Pope, bull of, 296. 

** Uspensky Psalter,” 156. 

** Utrecht Psalter,” 64, 189. 


Vv. 
VaLerius Maximos, MS., 270. 


“ Vaticanus ”’ codex, 150. 
Vellum or parchment: its tradi- 


tional invention, 35; its us» 
and value at Rome, 36, 37, 61; 
varieties, 38; ornamentation, 
38,39; purple staining, 39-42 ; 
gilding, 42; the vellum codex, 
60, 61. 

Venice, lead used there as a 
writing material, 17. 

Versus, a line of writing, 63, 80. 

Virgil, MSS., 185, 188, 18°. 

Visigothic numerals, 105; writ- 
ing, 222, 226. 

Vitelliani, small tablets, 21. 

Volumen, a roll, 54. 

Voragine, Jacobus de, MS., 276. 


W. 


WALL-INSCRIPTIONXS. See Graffiti. 

Water-marks, in paper, 47. 

Waxen tablets. See Tablets. 

Wessex, character of writing in, 
250, 251. 

Wills, written on tablets, 21. 

Words, separation and division 
of. See Text, 


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Homer. By W. E. GLADSTONE, 
SHAKSPERE. By E. hes 
ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
BROOKE. 
GREEK LITERATURE. ByR.C. JEBB. 
PuiLtotocy. By J. PEILe, 
ENGLISH COMPOSITION. By J. 
NICHOL. 
GrocraPHy. By G. Grove. 
CLAssIcAL GEOGRAPHY. By H. F. 
Tozer. 
INTRODUCTION TO ScIENCE PRIM- 
ERS. By T. H. σιν. 
PuystoLtocy. By M. Forster. 
Cuemistry. By H. E. Roscog. 
Puysics. By BaLFour STEWART. 
GroLocy. By A. GEIKIE. 
Botany. By J. ἢ. Hooker. 
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JEVONS. ΑἹ 

Locic. ΒΥ. 58. JEvons. 

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THe AposToLtic FATHERS AND THE. 


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Tuomas CARLYLE: His Life, his Books, 
his Theories. By A. H. Guernsey. 


RatpH Watpo Emerson, Philosopher 
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Macautay: His Life, his Writings. By 
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SHort LiFe or Cuarves Dickens. By 
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RUSKIN ON PAINTING. 
Town Geotocy. By CHARLEs KINGSLEY. 


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Tue ArT OF SPEECH. Poetry and Prose. 
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ATLAS OF THE. ΕΣ 


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